Innovation, Growth, and Job Creation

Innovation * Growth * Job Creation

Corporate Tax Reform Larry Burton discusses

Salt Lake city

reforms that are critical to American jobs and competitiveness

A prominent source of business and employment with a renowned and undeniably reliable workforce

Performance With Purpose

Indra

Nooyi

An empire

built of wine

Bronco Wine Company

VMT

Technologies

Engineering Innovative

Equipment for the

Wind Industry

HA Missio ar nt ouo Stre n ngthe Co n A C w ommu an nit sy

Guiding PepsiCo as a corporation that is a force for good

Larissa Herda, CEO of tw telecom, has often been an executive visitor in CESR’s Leadership Challenges: Exercises in Moral Courage course, and serves on the CESR Board.

Building Social Consciousness Among Tomorrow’s Leaders.

CESR: Center for Education on Social Responsibility CESR prepares graduate and undergraduate students of today to meet the economic, environmental, social, and ethical business challenges of tomorrow.

• Leeds is one of the only public business schools in the country that has a substantial and enduring commitment to the infusion of values throughout all years of the undergraduate business curriculum.

• CESR courses ensure that all of Leeds’ graduates, through required exposure to principles of corporate social responsibility and their practical applications, have the capacity not only to enhance firm performance, but to do so in an ethical way that is mindful of the impact of decisions on stakeholders.

To learn more about our offerings, visit leeds.colorado.edu/cesr or contact Dr. Donna Sockell, Director of CESR at 303.492.3937 or Donna.Sockell@colorado.edu

INCUBATE EXCELLENCE...

You are the CEO of a small firm challenged with raising your organization’s performance to a new level. You’ve heard of a host of approaches—Lean/Six Sigma, ISO 9000, and the “fad of the day”—but you want meaningful gains in all areas. How can an aspiring organization improve competitiveness just like the big guys?

Introducing a new solution just for you. The Monfort Institute at the University of Northern Colorado, and Colorado Performance Excellence have teamed up to help small and midsize firms apply proven management system principles that dramatically improve results. Now you can avoid the false starts, high expense, and long and difficult road typical to most transformation efforts.

If innovation and growth are your priority, consider incubating performance excellence to make them a reality.

PROGRAM BEGINS

September, 2011 FOR MORE DETAILS VISIT

coloradoexcellence.org or call 303-893-2739 CHANGE THAT IS: FASTER, EASIER, SUSTAINABLE, SUCCESSFUL

table of contents

april - june 2011

In this Issue 4 Letter From The Editor 6 Letter From The Publisher 8 Inspirations 10-12 Advisory B oard 14 Opinion 16 Making Air Waves 76-78 Collaboration Close Up 80 Thank You

The Future Looks Like…

StoneAge D

urango, Colorado, for those who have never been, is in an inspiring corner of the state where the high desert slopes upward to the base of the San Juan mountain range and white capped mountains pierce a deep blue sky. Life here is about the outdoors and the passion that flows from nature.

Just a short drive from Durango is

Purgatory at Durango Mountain Ski area, and over Molas Pass, one can find the more challenging Silverton Mountain. The Animas River runs right through the heart of the town tempting anglers from all over the world while daring rafters to take the plunge - stunning geography to say the least. Continued on pg.42

» "Our country

has completely overextended itself to lead a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget." « - Matt Miller

Quote worthy pg.60

"When I started my company, I had been through years of schooling and training, but

Developing World Design Solutions That Address Economic Challenges

Innovations That Transform Lives pg. 70

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nothing

in my background had

prepared me for my life as an entrepreneur."

- Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi pg.50

GOVERNMENT

18 Innovation, Intention, and Implementation in Developing Countries The World Bank 20 The Peak Solution Promoting Customer Service, Reducing Workloads, and Providing Cost Effective M anagement 22 Foreign Direct Investment and the U.S. Economy

24 Rediscovering a Great American City Salt Lake City’s Economic Prosperity

Shehzad Noorani / World Bank

COMMUNITY

BUSINESS

28 Corporate Tax Reform Critical to American Jobs and Competitiveness

30 Collaborative Leadership All in the Family

34 An Energy Production Windfall VMT Technologies Engineers Innovative Equipment for the Wind Industry

44 Colorado’s Underemployed and

Unemployed Resources for Jobs

48 I Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda...

Innovation in the Healthcare Industry Is Now E asier

50 Helping Companies Start, Survive and Thrive An Interview with CEO Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi, Biotrends International

PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi

40 Women-Owned Businesses Overcoming Barriers to Growth

42 The Future Looks Like... StoneAge

The Story of Haroun Cowans

54 One-On-One with Chris Carrington CEO of Alpine Access

64 Green Spaces Colorado

56 The Transition from Small to

68 World Trade Center Denver

Midsize Company Developing An Enterprise

36 Performance With Purpose

62 An Entrepreneur’s Mission to Strengthen A Community

Strategy to Create More Jobs

58 Performance Excellence

Incubator Sustainable Transformation for Organizational Success

60 Acumen Contracting Group and C Different Foundation’s Matt Miller

Fostering Collaboration Among Entrepreneurs Connecting Its Global Network LIVE!

70 Developing World Design Solutions That Address Economic Challenges Innovations That Transform Lives

74 Business Launch Boot Camp A Curriculum to Grow Your Own Job

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LETTER FROM the editor

Innovation and Growth Are Imperative

To Creating Jobs!

W

e are in one of the worst recessions in American history. More than one in 10 Americans is without a job, and the federal budget is driving our country’s debt to unparalleled levels. Because of this, and because of an uncertain legislative atmosphere, many businesses —small and large — are postponing capital investments in their businesses and are holding off on hiring additional workers.

This issue of ICOSA is focused on collaborations that are innovative and/or growth-based and that have the potential to create jobs. Our cover story on competitive taxation is a compelling argument to restructure corporate tax codes to make the system more competitive globally, thus increasing the pace of economic growth here in the U.S. to support conditions for robust job creation and investment in the private sector.

The article on foreign direct investment in the U.S. offers a counter to a historic argument among liberals and conservatives. The article details how foreign direct investment is a key source of capital, job creation, and innovation, while sustaining U.S. exports.

PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi is another fascinating story of innovation and growth. The company, as most people know, does not just operate in the United States, but rather it has a massive international reach with presence in more than 200 countries. In its own way, it is a “citizen” of many cultures and lands, therefore it must be a “force of good in society,” said Nooyi when discussing innovation with the Business Roundtable. Nooyi asserts, “Industry creates jobs, keeps the wheels of the economy turning.

Government should celebrate us, not regulate us.”

Haroum Cowans is another entrepreneurial collaborator who is reviving iconic neighborhoods in his city, which he believes further serves as a catalyst for larger redevelopment. At the same time, Cowans supports entrepreneurial education for inner-city youth who are looking at their future in a dismal

FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER Gayle Dendinger

PRESIDENT & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jan Mazotti

MANAGING EDITOR: Annette Perez STAFF writers: Michael Connors, Emily Haggstrom, Maria Luna

economy. He serves as an interesting case study for how “guerilla entrepreneurship” can change the way communities deal with poverty, low graduation rates, violence, and economic viability.

These are just a few of the interesting stories in this issue — stories of what is working locally, regionally, and nationally.

They are stories of how creative, collaborative doers are working hard to sustain innovation and growth to create jobs wherever they are.

The United States is at a critical juncture, and the big question is what are we going to do about it? We need aligned, growthoriented policies implemented by collaborative businesses and leaders that encourage investment and innovation for growth, and that spur on job creation. It might be the only way to restore the economy in this country.

Think about it.

All the best,

- J an Mazotti

CONTRIBUTING writers: Cate Anderson, Ben Bryan, Larry Burton, Derek D’Andre, Kim DeCoste, Laura Dowling, Shadi Farhangrazi, Karen Gerwitz, Triche Guenin, Steve Kessler, Brendan Landry, Tameka Montgomery, Tazeem Pasha, Rhonda Paxson, Eric Reamer, Birdie Reznicek, Daisy Rocha, Rebecca Saltman, Andre Takacs, Angel Tuccy, Luke Wyckoff COPY EDITORs: Maria Luna, Laura Rothenfeld

ART DIRECTOR: Nick Heckman - EKMN PHOTOGR APHY and design: Shelby Soto. Andrew Thompson

VIDEOGR APHY: Tammy Schmidt, Blake Rubenstein Social Media: Annette Perez, Eli Regalado

Advertising inquires: Please contact Jan Mazotti at janm@icosamag.com ICOSA® welcomes editorial submissions from its readers. Whenever possible, submissions should be sent in electronic format. All unsolicited materials should be submitted to the publisher at the address below. Items not sent electronically will not be returned. The publisher reserves the right to decline use of materials at their discretion and assumes no liability for unsolicited materials.

ICOSA® (ISSN1938-2081) is published four times a year. No part of ICOSA® may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. ©2011

ICOSA® CORPOR ATE HEADQUARTERS 4100 Jackson Street Denver, CO 80216 Office: 303.333.3688 Fax: 303.333.4832 Email: janm@icosamag.com Website: www.icosamag.com All third-class postage paid at Denver, Colorado.

To view an electronic copy of ICOSA® (ISSN1938-209X) or to get your free subscription, go to www.icosamag.com.

Friend us at ICOSA Magazine® on Facebook or check the ICOSA® Channel on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/ICOSAmagazine.

The title ICOSA® is an analogy for great connections and collaboration. An icosahedron, the strongest of the polygons, combines 20 equilateral triangular faces together. We use this analogy because we believe that if we all work together and collaborate, we too can become stronger – just like the triangles.

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For dreamers who do.

Live, learn, and work with a community overseas.

Be a Volunteer.

peacecorps.gov

LETTER FROM the PUBLISHER

Taking Risks Is Sometimes

the Answer

I

COSA is thriving!

And when I say thriving, I mean it.

I should apologize for my enthusiasm, but I won’t, because since its inception, ICOSA has made some truly noteworthy advances. And while I am excited about the direction of ICOSA’s future, it is only through each past experience that the magazine has grown to be what it is now.

Looking back, I am exceptionally proud of the connections that we have made over the years — whether it is our writers, our connectors or our collaborators — we have all taught each other something about collaboration. The magazine has become a

this exploration that my staff and I decided to write a book about these characteristics and their relation to collaborative efforts.

It was shortly after our decision to write the book that I met the business school dean from Colorado Christian University. I spoke with him in depth about the book and he offered us the opportunity to teach a leadership course entitled, The Building and Deployment of Connection and Collaboration. As a result of the experience with these students, we were able to finish our book.

Nearly three years later in 2008, the economy was in an atrocious state. In an effort to keep our core business, an international

show, Connect and Collaborate with ICOSA on the Experience Pros Radio Show on 560 AM (in the Rocky Mountain region) highlights various contributors and topics.

We are proud of our work, and not just our staff, but contributors too. We know that without their support we wouldn’t be where we are today. I am honored to have worked with former Mayor turned Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper on his collaborative project, The Biennial of the Americas 2010, which brought leaders from across the Western Hemisphere together to discuss the pertinent issues affecting our world today.

The Biennial emanated the mission of ICOSA

tool to share the stories of people and groups across academia, business, community and government who truly affect change.

In 2005, during a staff meeting, I shared materials that I had researched on the fundamental principles of collaboration. As an enthusiast of symbolism, I was struck by information on the Native Americans portrayal of animals and how each one is representative of patterns in nature. Grasshoppers, for example, represent messengers of good news that benefit the entire community, while the bear represents protection, strength and the progeny of the tribe.

As I continued my research of this lore, I found that certain creatures exude characteristics that are essential for their collaborative models to endure. It was through

logistics company, afloat we decided to purchase a $99 magazine template and publishing software — it was from there that ICOSA was born. With the addition of our art director, we managed to produce a 64 page magazine similar to what readers see today in just six weeks.

In just over two years, ICOSA has grown from an idea and is transitioning into a full media company. We are now working with various universities to offer an expanded course on connection and collaboration with the expectation of updating our book with new principles and practices that we have learned from our collaborative partners and their amazing stories.

The magazine continues to be a source of best practice case studies, while our new radio

and is an example of what can happen when people come together to discuss common issues. The Biennial opened our eyes to the vast possibilities of new ideas, new stories, and new heights.

We have witnessed the amazing power people have when they connect and collaborate.

I continue to ask for your help in sharing not only your stories but the stories of others through our magazine and now through our radio show. Together we can create success.

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- Gayle Dendinger

BIOTRENDS INTERNATIONAL

BIOTRENDS INTERNATIONAL

inspirations

A MODEL FOR COLLABORATION

Building a Foundation for a Replicable Future

By Gayle Dendinger

s the economic recovery inches along, I can’t help but think about the small, but meaningful, quality improvements that are being made across the nation and the state of Colorado to increase productive capacity — especially as demand starts to return and innovative investments, growth, and job creation slowly gain momentum.

While there are continued layoffs of our friends and neighbors, and while many Americans are chronically unemployed, small businesses, private businesses and entrepreneurs, though not flourishing, seem to be budding with new opportunities. In the wake of recent natural disasters and hypotheses about where the economy may or may not be going, these businesses are not waiting around to see what will happen; they’re thinking of new ways to recover from this country’s economic struggles.

Although economic predictions seem grim, I believe with good ideas and the right people, there is light at the end of the tunnel. It will take individuals working together to ease the strain, but collective unity, coupled with drive and determination to see the country succeed, I believe it is possible to replicate great and consistent ways of doing business that will elevate the U.S. to the next period of prosperity.

The backbone of an economy lies in developing infrastructure and educating people. But, there must be opportunities for growth. We cannot sit around to see what can happen — we must act now.

It is in the face of despair that we must rise to the occasion and confront the challenges we share together by investing in the future, no matter how hard it may be.

While most high-level issues are discussed every day in committee meetings, in board rooms and in back offices, everyone concurrently, is not, perhaps, in alignment because the issues may be too large or too daunting to address.

The problems of this country cannot be solved solely in Washington, D.C. I believe it is imperative that we work together through this

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crisis. As General Patton once said, “In war, it takes more than the desire to fight to win. You've got to have more than guts to lick the enemy.

You must also have brains.”

Together, a collective can fight these issues and design something that can be successful and replicable.

IT IS IN THE FACE OF DESPAIR THAT WE MUST RISE TO THE OCCASION AND CONFRONT THE CHALLENGES WE SHARE TOGETHER BY INVESTING IN THE FUTURE, NO MATTER HOW HARD IT MAY BE.

The Biennial of the Americas in July of 2010 was a testament to this notion.

Then mayor, turned governor, John Hickenlooper, helped to spearhead an event that would shape the way we look at problems and how we solve them. By bringing together disparate cultures through cultural events, as well as through political discussions, Biennial participants identified one common thread — shared challenges. It was also apparent that as a society, we are conditioned to provide remedial solutions to our toughest problems — solutions that only quell the pain but don’t stop the bleed.

Biennial roundtables on healthcare, education, energy and trade showed us the possibility of what could be done if people came together and shared best practices.

We learned that much can be done to solve problems when people come together over one shared issue. We can move from talking to doing.

Early on, naysayers thought the Biennial was a ridiculous dream — that it couldn’t happen, especially in a state like Colorado. What people underestimated was that John Hickenlooper and the staff of the Biennial organization believed that Denver and the state of Colorado were not only a strategic place for these conversations, but that Colorado and its way of life would be the perfect model for collaboration.

As a firm believer in collaboration and people working together, I appreciate the tenacity of Governor Hickenlooper and his staff for seeing their vision through and putting Colorado on the map as a place where ideas have an open forum and a chance at completion. We look forward to the next issues brought forth by the Biennial and the years in between to see them brought to fruition.

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Advisory board

Dawn Gifford

Engle

D

awn Gifford Engle has a background in public service.

She worked for the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. for 12 years, first as a research assistant to U.S. Senator Robert Griffin, and then as Legislative Assistant to Congressman Jack Kemp and as Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Robert Kasten. In 1986, she was promoted to be Senator Kasten’s Chief of Staff, becoming the youngest woman ever to serve in that position. She also served as an assistant director of the Republican Platform Committee.

In 1994, she founded Colorado Friends of Tibet, a statewide nonprofit organization.

In 1994, Dawn Gifford Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff began working together to create the PeaceJam program, which was launched in March of 1996. Suvanjieff and Engle became husband and wife in March of 2000, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu presiding over the ceremony. Currently, Suvanjieff serves as PeaceJam’s president, and Engle as the foundation’s executive director. Over the past 15 years, almost 650,000 young people across the globe have participated in the PeaceJam program, creating more than one million projects to improve their communities and the world. In September of 2008, The Dalai Lama, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi and 7 other Nobel Peace Laureates joined together to launch PeaceJam’s ‘Global Call to Action’ campaign, calling for one billion acts of service and peace by the year 2018.

Dawn Gifford Engle has received dozens of awards and has been nominated six times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was the codirector of the award-winning documentary film, PEACEJAM, produced four hours of programming for BBC World, and co-authored the book, Simple Acts of Peace, which was published by Penguin Press in 2008. New projects include 2012: The True Mayan Prophecy — her first solo film directing effort which was released this year.

To learn more go to http://www.peacejam.org!

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Dawn Gifford Engle PeaceJam Foundation 11200 R alston Road A rvada, CO 80004 Phone: 303.455.2099 Fax : 303.455.3921 Email: info@peacejam.org Website: www.peacejam.org

Advisory board

Marcia

most recently, Limelight Presentations, LLC, a presentation skills training and consulting firm.

While money is often important, it is not Marcia’s central driving force. She believes that the true score card in her personal life is the number of people she has helped. Throughout her career, Marcia has donated her time as a consultant to four different SBDC’s across the country and believes in their mission of being arcia McGilley is the number one resource for small currently the Director businesses, while assisting them in of the South Metro starting, growing and prospering — Denver Small Business making their entrepreneurial dreams Development Center come true. Moreover, Marcia has held (SBDC) hosted by the South Metro leadership positions supporting those Denver Chamber of Commerce in people with cancer at The Cancer Centennial, Colorado. The Center, which FitSpa and QuaLife Wellness Center, services over 1,500 individuals each year all the while running her own business in pursuit of launching or growing their as a national motivational speaker. own businesses, has recently achieved She grew up attending summer national recognition as one of the top camp and going on winter ski vacations ten SBDC’s in the country by the U.S. in Colorado, remarking on her 13th Small Business Administration. On May birthday that someday she would live 3, 2011, Greg Lopez, Colorado District in Colorado, own her own business Director for the U.S. SBA – Region and a mountain home. In 1993, she VII, presented Marcia and her Center embarked on just this path, moving the 2010 Small Business Development to Colorado, owning a successful Center of the Year Service Award for business, and by 1996, owning a home Excellence and Innovation. in Silverthorne. This solidified her Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, dream. she grew up in a rich entrepreneurial Since joining the South Metro setting. In fact, twelve of her immediate Denver SBDC in 2008, Marcia has relatives are entrepreneurs including added such prestigious programs as arcia c illey her father, mother, two sisters, two the Colorado Leading Edge business Director, South M etro Denver Small grandfathers, grandmother, aunts, planning program, a unique pilot Business Development Center uncles, cousins, and brothers-in-law. project for SBDC’s and the Cleantech The family seemed to see business Open, and grew the capital formation 6840 S. University Boulevard opportunities in life’s every moment, for the Center’s clients from $1M to Centennial , CO 80122 from her mother’s wedding consulting to $7.5M in two years. She built strategic Office: 303.795.0142 her father’s funeral business. alliances with public, private and Mobile: 303.548.5300 Shortly after graduating from the governmental entities such as the South Email: marcia@bestchamber .com University of Kansas with a double Metro Denver Chamber, the Cleantech Website: www.SmallBusinessDenver.com major in Political Science and Speech & Open and the WIRED organization, Drama, Marcia’s first step was to learn to deliver best-of-practice training and the local Chamber of Commerce, and as much from corporate America as she individualized business consulting, began a marketing consulting firm focused could while creating an entrepreneurial planning and market research for the five nest egg. During that time, she held various on providing companies with full-service state regional teams. marketing assistance. The result of her sales and marketing positions with Hyatt Marcia is both a professional speaker first foray in the family footsteps was Hotels, The Lee Apparel Company, and and actress. She has been a member of impressive indeed, as she succeeded in Showtime Networks. the National Speakers Association for assisting over 1,000 new companies launch After 10 years of incubating her own over 10 years and is represented by Big in the next 10 years. skills, and with $5,000 in hand, Marcia Fish Talent for film and commercial She went on to launch five other visited the local SBDC to start her first work. She is an entrepreneur’s companies of her own including a business in 1989. Based on her initial entrepreneur and she is likely to continue motivational speaking company, a training, she quickly worked up a business launching others’ ideas, and her own, for murder mystery theatre troupe, and model, bought her first computer, joined a long time to come.

McGilley

M

M

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M G

opinion

Innovation and

Job Creation A Youth Perspective By Daisy Rocha

S

ix years ago, when I was 12, I walked into YouthBiz for the first time. I was stunned to see people, not much older than myself, running a program that advances the social and economic empowerment of youth through a focus on entrepreneurship, education, and community leadership. On that first day, I knew I would be a leader in this organization. With all of the new responsibilities and expectations of a first job, over time, I began to understand how important the entrepreneurial, academic, and leadership skills were to my future.

YouthBiz uses a peer-to-peer leadership model. Youth who have excelled in the foundational programs are hired to facilitate classes, participate in program evaluations, and engage in curriculum development. When I started the program, I realized the youth leaders were not much different from me. In fact, they were just kids from school, or neighbors, or friends. But seeing them lead at YouthBiz, I saw a different side of them. They had an intention and goal, not only to teach, but to help others help themselves.

Early on, I had the ambition to become a youth leader and was willing to do whatever it took to earn that position. By the age of 15, I proved my dedication and was hired on as a youth leader.

During my tenure, I had to overcome many challenges, but this only made my experience richer because I was able to share my story, my struggles, and my triumphs with other youth. I was proud to set an example of

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» There is a perception that there is no alternative to the neighborhood norms of poverty, lack of opportunities for education, and gang affiliation. «

accomplishment for my fellow peers and trainees, and I would soon realize how unbelievable it was to be a part of a program run by young adults.

YouthBiz is not only an after-school program, but a first job experience for youths in a predominately lowincome neighborhood with few options for employment.

Many young people apply to the program because they see the financial incentive as a way to earn money and help their often financially struggling parents. Last year, the organization conducted an extensive survey asking young people what they valued most about their experience at YouthBiz. It was a surprise to find that the financial incentive was the primary reason most kids applied. However, by the time students completed the program, skills and knowledge gained became the primary reason for participation.

In some neighborhoods, the odds are often against the kids finding success and opportunities.

There is a perception that there is no alternative to the neighborhood norms of poverty, lack of opportunities for education, and gang affiliation. I have worked with so many students who tell me, “I’m stuck here. I don’t know what to do to make a future for myself.” YouthBiz targets northeast Denver neighborhoods where the high school graduation rate is below 50 percent, one-third of children live in poverty, and there are higher rates of violence compared to any surrounding neighborhood.

» I realized how lucky I was to be part of an organization creating space for young people to be honest and hopeful, while inspiring others to envision and work towards their future. «

We must change the path. We need more programs and businesses that are willing to hire youths in leadership positions, giving them the opportunity to develop and apply their knowledge and strengths in a real-world setting.

I have taught hundreds of students at my time with YouthBiz, but Omar really stands out. One day he stood up to do his public speaking presentation. I asked him, “Are you sure you don’t want to use your notecards?

They will help you talk about your main points.” He simply replied, “I don’t need notecards to remind me of what I have to say.”

As he shared the challenges facing him, his failures and victories, I saw a change in him.

His story held the class in awe — they were speechless as this fourteen-year-old talked about how drugs and gang affiliation encircled his world, but how he was resolved to choose a different path for himself.

At that moment, I realized how lucky I was to be part of an organization creating space for young people to be honest and hopeful, while inspiring others to envision and work towards their future. Knowing and working with the participants closely, I see the need for and value of job creation for our communities. So many

young people, like Omar, feel they do not have options to build a future for themselves.

I believe job creation means empowerment to pursue and innovate ideas, allows people to provide for themselves, their families, and the community around them. And I know, this economic empowerment can lead to social empowerment.

I am stronger today because of my affiliation with YouthBiz. My experiences have taught me the importance of inspiring and supporting young adults to overcome obstacles, and it has broadened my views, especially working with such diversity. In the fall of 2011, I will attend the Metropolitan State College of Denver where I plan to major in Journalism and minor in Communications so that I can capture and report such true-life stories like Omar’s. Because of my experience at YouthBiz, I have been enabled to pursue my goals, become a role model in my neighborhood, and work towards the empowerment of the young adults in a community.

Imagine a network of young people, empowered with character, vision, and leadership in every community. Powerful, isn’t it?

Job creation translates to a more secure community that can invest in schools and young people’s futures, and can bring positive change to society’s perception of a neighborhood. I see YouthBiz and

similar youth development programs as an opportunity for students to open new doors to their future and for their community.

Rarely are we given the opportunity to make a significant difference in the life of another person. YouthBiz gave me the drive to push myself to do what seemed impossible. My experience has prepared me to get out there, set big goals for myself, and pursue a life filled with passion and dedication. Before my early YouthBiz days, I would have been afraid to step out as a leader, but now I seek opportunities for leadership and to advance my career.

We need programs to support our youth.

Throughout history, young people have driven innovation and change. We cannot ignore the intelligence, drive, and valuable resources that they bring to the table. To not invest in these communities, we are missing a huge opportunity to empower young people who can approach the enormous social and economic challenges facing our neighborhoods with ingenuity, an awareness of the fabric of the community, and a dedication to creating positive change because it is their home.

Daisy Rocha is a YouthBiz Youth Marketing & Fundraising Intern and a high school senior.

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making air waves

Experience Pros Radio

Making airWaves Connect + Collaborate with ICOSA By Eric Reamer

W

hen Angel Tuccy and I were first approached in 2009 by executives of AM 560 KLZ in Denver, the possibility of their grassroots radio “revolution” gaining momentum found a crack in the soil of the business community, and a seed was planted.

Up until that time, the Experience Pros Radio Show had been a once-a-week, one-hour internet radio show with an average listenership of 200 people per week. The opportunity to bring their unique message to tens of thousands of listeners inspired them to think big, and take the leap of faith that brought their show to the Colorado airwaves for 30 minutes every weekday for the first 15 months, and is now live for two hours (10:00 a.m. – noon MST) Monday through Friday.

The whole point of our radio show is to feature the very best in business from the customer's point of view. By giving the listeners a voice that trumps paid endorsements and advertisements, we open the door to a more genuine collaboration between business owners and their customers.

This is why Tuccy and I call the show a “revolution.” And, it appears to be taking root, as more and more business owners are finding a common source of connection with each

other, their customers and their communities.

The Experience Pros' use of current technology, including web 2.0, social media, and terrestrial radio, has provided a much broader opportunity for the audience to participate in the conversations being presented. Listeners may callin, e-mail, tweet, text or write their comments and questions on the Experience Pros' Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/ExperiencePros). And because the show is live, we respond in real-time to the stream of incoming commentary.

Partnering With ICOSA In March 2011, the message of ICOSA hit the airwaves as the Connect + Collaborate with ICOSA show joined the Experience Pros Radio Show. "We are very pleased with our partnership with Experience Pros", says ICOSA founder and publisher, Gayle Dendinger. "They have provided us with a vehicle for our message that we did not have previously and provided a solution that we didn't need to recreate."

» By giving the listeners a voice that trumps paid endorsements and advertisements, we open the door to a more genuine collaboration between business owners and their customers. «

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Connect + Collaborate with ICOSA started as a once-a-week segment of the Experience Pros Radio Show, airing Thursdays from 11:20 a.m. to noon (MST). Hosted by ICOSA's editor, Jan Mazotti, the show's guests have included six-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and award-winning filmmaker, Dawn Engle as well as the Executive Director of the World Trade Center Denver, Karen Gerwitz.

“We are thrilled to report the huge impact and positive feedback that we are receiving from our listeners,” says Tuccy. “ICOSA brings a fabulous lineup of guests and truly fresh information to our programming that our listeners are raving about!” And the show's ratings, already strong in a competitive business talk market, support the value that ICOSA brings to the table. There is a demonstrative spike in listenership that has grown every Thursday since the addition of the program.

The news that people were indeed listening and responding to the content prompted discussions about expanding ICOSA's footprint within the Experience Pros Radio Show. “We are very happy to announce that beginning the first week of July 2011, Connect + Collaborate with ICOSA will expand to a daily presence, airing from 11:20 - noon (MST) Monday through Friday,” says Mazotti.

We couldn't be more pleased with our growing relationship with ICOSA. Here is a company (ICOSA) that doesn't just talk about collaboration — it actually lives it in every aspect of its corporate and community-minded culture. ICOSA’s vision and objectives are a perfect complement to our own, and what we have created is a perfect example of a business connection that offers a result that is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

The show's listeners are the ultimate beneficiaries of this partnership, and the readers of ICOSA are invited and encouraged to tune in to experience it for themselves. Residents of Colorado and the five-state region reached

by KLZ may tune in at 11:20 AM (MST) on AM 560 on the radio dial. The show is also streamed live on www.icosamag.com or www.560TheSource.com. Archives are available on iTunes or www.ExperiencePros.com.

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GOVERNMENT

The World Bank

Innovation, Intention, and Implementation

in Developing Countries The World Bank By Maria E. Luna

W

hile most banks have retracted lending amounts, the World Bank has increased theirs, by committing themselves to, stabilizing, preserving, and enhancing foundations to build long-term economic growth. With the underlying mission of developing the world and the experience of the past five years, the Bank has stated that, “about 85 percent of the world’s economies have made it easier for local entrepreneurs to operate, through 1,511 improvements to business regulation.”

And, each completed project brings developing countries closer to prosperity. The Bank supports economic conditions, project by project, which provide tools to develop and implement sound debt management strategies. In fact, their mission is to, “eradicate poverty with passion and professionalism bringing lasting results and providing people with resources, knowledge to help themselves and the environment through public and private partnerships," World Bank.

in a World Bank-sponsored competition for its development of a timelapse application that registers 3000+ “usable, measurable” indicators — dimensions of economic, social, and human development — of success toward the Millennium Goals.

According to World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick, “One of the reasons we threw open the doors to our data was that we recognized we don’t have a monopoly on innovation. These apps clearly demonstrate how the software development community can harness technology to analyze and tackle some of the world's long-standing problems. It’s fantastic to see the creative approaches each of the finalists took, and it’s also great to see that the submissions came from six continents.” In fact, the World Bank reviewed 107 entries from 36 countries, on six continents during the competition. Prizes totaling $55,000 were awarded to several winners selected by Kannan Pashupathy of Google, Ory Okolloh co-founder of Ushahidi, and Craig Newmark of Craigslist.

» “One of the reasons we

Collaborative partnerships were formed to help accomplish the Millennium Development Goals and to supplement innovative entrepreneurs as a solution to the lack of funding and development in their respective countries. The eight Millennium Development Goals which are due for completion by 2015 include: eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction in child mortality, improvement in maternal health, combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and building of a global partnership for development.

Drawing from the innovations in the software industry, the Bank began to look at application (apps) development tools as an effective way to increase global collaboration and productivity, as well as reduce costs. As such, these apps are becoming an economical measurement and tracking tool in the development of impoverished countries. In April 2011, StatPlanet was awarded first place ( 18 )

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threw open the doors to our data was that we recognized we don’t have a monopoly on innovation." « - Robert B. Zoellick

Deborah Campos / World Bank Mr. Zoellick(r.) enters the World Bank headquarters accompanied by Vice President and Corporate Secretary W. Paatii Ofosu-Amaah(l.).

The Development Timelines, created by Patrick_and_Stuart, was also a winner. Their cutting-edge app tracks the context of global development data in relation to historical events and changes in public policy. The app also accounts for the understanding of war, education reforms, economic booms and busts, and elements that foster or hinder the progress of the Millennium Development Goals.

Yourtopia - Development beyond GDP, by European-based gxu, was also a winner. Their application summarizes human development data against specific criteria. Its functionality, as described by gxu allows users to, “choose how important different dimensions of development are to you. The application then calculates how countries do overall, according to your priorities. Your personal measure of social progress makes tracking developments easy by combining large data sets into a single index. With your anonymised quiz data, you participate in constructing the world's first multiple-dimension index of human development that overcomes the problem of arbitrary indicator-weighting and proxy choices through open public voting.”

Joined by 12 others honorees, the winning software applications provide definition to the Bank’s already extraordinary databases.

By reviewing the data processed by the “winning apps,” global innovators can develop solutions that are both profitable to society and those financially invested.

Partnership opportunities can be established at infoDev (www. infoDev.org) by interested individuals or companies wishing to participate in innovation programs with the World Bank.

Effective implementation of Bank grants, through partnerships with infoDev and other agencies, develop the proper relationship between governments, businesses, and public/private-sector organizations. The infoDev Secretariat is housed in the Global Information Communication Technology Department (GICT) of the World Bank Group and is one of the organization’s key donors and founders. Agencies are able to access infoDev as a non-biased assembly for dialogue and announcements. They also serve as a coordinator of joint action among bilateral and multilateral donors to support global sharing of information on ICT for development (ICT4D), and the reduction of duplication efforts and investments. infoDev offers toolkits and handbooks, develops workshops, training seminars, and briefs to support policymakers, donors, and those charged with turning knowledge into action.

Shehzad Noorani / World Bank - Female employee of the Telephone Store at the female-dominated 'Ladies Corner' enterprise area .

helping, “developing countries and their international partners maximize the contribution and impact of the private sector through direct support for ICTenabled innovation, new businesses and partnership models and toolkits, and networking among entrepreneurs, private sector investors and the donor community," World Bank. The iDISC network consists of more than 300 incubators around the world, giving unique insights into the challenges facing ICT innovators and entrepreneurs and enabling access for all. infoDev explains that their services are integral in, “help(ing) developing countries and their international partners make smart choices and develop effective partnerships for enabling access to information infrastructure, applications and services in ways that are sustainable and maximize private investment and leverage public resources where necessary. This includes sponsoring research, toolkits and capacity building on regulation issues, expanding access to broadband, and promoting municipal networks.” Finally, the transformation element focuses on mainstreaming ICT as tools of development and poverty reduction. infoDev describes its transformation efforts as, “A rigorous program of field-based experimentation, research, and analysis. infoDev helps developing countries and their international partners make smart choices about when and how to deploy ICT as tools for development goals in health, education, livelihoods, public sector reform and other areas.”

» Effective implementation

The infoDev organization is motivated by innovation, connection and transformation, which encompasses both entrepreneurship and growth by

of Bank grants, through partnerships with infoDev and other agencies, develop the proper relationship between governments, businesses, and public/private-sector organizations. «

Your innovation, your contribution to society, and something you are passionate about can come to fruition through partnerships with the World Bank and infoDev. To find more information about government grants visit www.infodev.org. And to find out more about the World Bank visit www.worldbank.org.

Gennadiy Ratushenko / World Bank - Computer training at the Women Center on Karateginskay Street of Dushanbe established under Women Education Project.

Maria Luna is a staff writer and copy editor at ICOSA. She has a B.A. in Communication and a B.F.A. in Multimedia from the University of Colorado at Denver. She is currently seeking her M.A. at the University of Denver in Liberal Studies, Arts and Culture. She is a committee member of the AIGA Colorado Sustainability team.

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GOVERNMENT

Colorado Benefits Management System

The Peak Solution Promoting Customer Service, Reducing Workloads, and Providing Cost Effective Management

T

By Derek D'Andre & Rhonda Paxson

he Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) is the eligibility determination system for the State of Colorado. CBMS incorporates eligibility determination for Medicaid, food assistance, cash assistance, and the children’s Basic Health Plan, including case management functions such as work programs. Currently, anyone who wishes to apply for any of the public assistance programs must apply in person, during normal business hours, at one of the 64 county offices or approximately 155 Medical Assistance (MA) sites throughout the state that help administer the programs. Most individuals show up at one of the application intake sites without the proper paperwork and often do not know the programs for which they may be eligible. The citizens of Colorado need better access and more options for determining their potential eligibility.

The Colorado Program Eligibility and Application Kit (PEAK) was designed for this purpose. PEAK is a Web-based portal designed to provide clients and community partners with a modern and easily accessible tool to apply for public assistance benefits.

It currently allows new clients to determine program eligibility and allows existing patrons to check on their benefits. New functionality was released in May 2011, which allowed citizens to apply for benefits and change their public assistance data through PEAK. The CBMS staff worked in collaboration with several states to implement the PEAK system in a very short timeframe. While the base system came from Wisconsin, certain enhancements and project documentation were leveraged from New York, Georgia, and New Mexico, as well. By working in collaboration and leveraging valuable assets from other states, CBMS has been able

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to deliver a cost efficient, quicker to market (compared with custom development) solution to meet the needs of Coloradoans.

The requirements and design phases of any software developing project can be time and labor intensive. CBMS was able to accelerate delivery of the system and reduce cost because requirements and design documents already existed and only required minimal changes to make them Colorado specific. Colorado PEAK is architectured as a true three tier/layer (logical and physical) objectoriented implementation. The presentation layer was developed using Java Server Pages (JSP) and HTML and is delivered to the client through the Internet. The business object layer contains the business logic for the application. It was developed using JEE technology and implemented using an IBM WebSphere application server. The data access layer was developed using the Oracle 10g relational database management system.

PEAK is already benefiting many stakeholders, but has had the most impact on the individuals who seek benefits, state staff supporting CBMS, and the county and MA site users who traditionally help those individuals apply for the various public assistance programs. PEAK is available 24/7 and has given individuals additional ways to access information about the programs. The program was implemented as a result of a growing numbers of low income residents who have access to computers and the Internet — whether at home, at work, at the public library, or at other community-based locations. The PEAK solution is available in English and Spanish, is written at a level accessible to most individuals, and provides basic instructions for people who

» By working in collaboration and leveraging valuable assets from

other states, CBMS has been able to deliver a cost efficient, quicker to market solution to meet the needs of Coloradoans. «

have not used a computer previously. Assessments are anonymous, and the application is self-guiding. Therefore, individuals do not need knowledge of the various programs. All of these factors help increase participation in the programs by identifying individuals who would not normally have been aware of the assistance available to them.

Once subsequent phases are completely rolled out, the workload on county and MA site users will be significantly reduced. Individuals will be able to apply for benefits online and change their personal information, virtually eliminating much of the data entry and upfront application intake process. Finally, PEAK utilizes on-screen edits and validations to help improve the accuracy of the data entered. This will benefit all parties by eliminating data entry errors that may result in an inaccurate determination of eligibility and benefits or may prolong the overall determination process.

The PEAK initiative has succeeded on many fronts. First was leveraging the benefits obtained through collaboration. The CBMS team is comprised of multiple Health and Human Services (HHS) agency representatives who worked together to identify a technology solution to a very important customer/user business need. Second, the PEAK initiative leveraged existing leading practices from other state governmental agencies and then synergized the technical solution.

Third, PEAK’s design focused on the customer’s needs and usability by being user-friendly and intuitive. Finally, PEAK’s development methodology was efficient and cost-effective when compared to standard software development life cycle projects. The full benefits related to customer service delivery and reduced caseworker activities are yet to be realized pending release of future functionality. However, this functionality is currently being piloted in several counties.

During the first four months of 2011, there was a monthly average of 3,873 self-assessments, 12,720 clients checking benefits, and 70 new applications. This resulted in a significant workload reduction on county staff who would normally assist citizens and clients with these tasks.

» Individuals will be able to apply for benefits

online and change their personal information, virtually eliminating much of the data entry and upfront application intake process. « Although no formal data has been collected, it appears that online applications can be processed by county workers in half the time it takes to process the application of a walk-in citizen. The PEAK solution can most accurately be described as a best practice that can be leveraged across government organizations that offer a similar set of services to a customer base with a similar set of needs. It is highly transferable because it is a solution that “sits on top” of the core system and can be integrated without significant changes to the core system. In addition, it can be easily tailored to the specific needs of other organizations.

The PEAK solution promotes customer self-service, reduces caseworker workloads, and promotes cost effective case management.

The PEAK Initiative was also recently nominated for the 2011 Information Week Innovation Award.

To learn more about the PEAK program visit http://www.colorado. gov/PEAK/ or contact Rhonda Paxson CBMS Deputy Director, Colorado Office of Information Technology (OIT) Colorado Benefits Management System via mail 639 E. 18th Ave. Ste. 200 Denver, CO 80202, email Rhonda.paxson@state.co.us, or by phone at 303-764-7586.

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GOVERNMENT

Invest in America

Foreign Direct Investment

and the U.S. Economy

By Tazeem Pasha

F

oreign direct investment (FDI) is a key source of capital, job creation, innovation, and U.S. exports. Firms invest in the United States to balance business growth and sustainability with global economic pressures to raise productivity and lower operating costs. Their investments contribute to the overall economic strength and competitiveness of the United States.

Businesses worldwide recognize the longstanding, unequivocal U.S. policy of openness to foreign direct investment (FDI). They invest in the United States to access the world’s largest, most innovative singlecountry economy with an annual GDP (gross domestic product) of approximately $14 trillion and a population of about 310 million, representing 42 percent of the global consumer goods market. The United States is the world’s largest recipient of FDI, and these investments are a sign of U.S. economic strength. Companies invest in the United States because our economy is stable, our workforce is reliable, and our climate of innovation and access to global markets can help achieve unparalleled success.

» The United States is the world’s largest

recipient of FDI, and these investments are a sign of U.S. economic strength. Companies invest in the United States because our economy is stable, our workforce is reliable, and our climate of innovation and access to global markets can help achieve unparalleled success. «

Even through the global economic volatility in recent years, FDI in the United States has remained steady. Preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows that approximately $190 billion in FDI flowed into the United States in 2010, almost a 30 percent increase from 2009. Overall, the $2.3 trillion stock of FDI in the United States is nearly 16 percent of our total GDP. In numerous confidence indices, the U.S. is consistently ranked among the top. A.T. Kearney ranks the U.S. as second in FDI confidence, and the World Economic Forum has ranked the U.S. fourth in global manufacturing competitiveness.

Meanwhile, the World Bank names the United States fifth in its “ease of doing business” index. Given the sheer size and industrial diversity of the U.S. economy, it is impressive to secure uniformly high rankings in business benchmarks.

In addition to new capital, foreign direct investment contributes to the U.S. economy through employment of U.S. workers. In 2009, sSubsidiaries of foreign-owned firms directly employ over 5.2 million U.S. workers, paying almost $408 billion in annual salaries and wages in 2009. Multinational firms value the quality of U.S. education and training. Their U.S. operations are often in specialized functions, leading to job creation in highly skilled sectors. They want the best workers in the world and are willing to pay a premium for U.S. talent.

Recent statistics show that nearly 40 percent of U.S. jobs created through FDI are in manufacturing. On average, U.S. employees of foreign-owned firms earn 25 percent higher wages than the U.S. private sector average wage.

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Another significant impact of FDI on the U.S. economy is the continued growth of its assets in research and development (R&D) and innovation. Already a world leader in R&D, the U.S. is further enhanced

by FDI occurring in this sector. In 2008, over $40 billion was spent on R&D by U.S. subsidiaries of foreign firms. Recently, the National Science Foundation (NSF) collected business data gathered by the NSF, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to find that U.S. affiliates of foreign firms have a growing share of R&D investments in the United States. Firms recognize the hospitable climate the U.S. provides for product research and development, intellectual property rights protection, and commercialization.

» Multinational companies have choices,

and they choose to invest in the United States for its supportive environment for their research, development and commercialization. «

Not only does the United States excel in R&D, but we also safeguard new inventions and innovations through a robust intellectual property protection rights (IPR) system. Last year, 34 percent of all R&D in the world took place in the United States with almost half of the developed world’s researchers working here. This research yields to impressive results, including the research of 45 percent of all Nobel Prize winners in the fields of chemistry, medicine and physics being completed in the United States. Further contributing to our competitiveness, the U.S. has a clear global advantage in the ability of firms to commercialize their technologies while relying on IPR protection. As the Global Manufacturing Index published by Deloitte and the U.S. Council on Competitiveness notes, “Strong intellectual (property) protection not only encourages innovation, it provides a level of confidence in an economy needed to attract FDI and spur technology transfer.” Multinational companies have choices, and they choose to invest in the United States for its supportive environment for their research, development, and commercialization.

FDI’s impact on the U.S. economy transcends its borders. In addition to introduction of new capital, creation of new jobs and strengthening U.S. competitiveness in R&D, U.S. affiliates of foreign-owned firms account for almost 19 percent of total U.S. exports. In recent years, the steady rise in the proportion of U.S. exports originating from these firms is evidence that multinational companies establish themselves not only to service the U.S. market but to utilize our business climate as an export platform, as well. After all, the United States nearly doubles its market access through strategic trade agreements representing 610 million consumers worldwide. Growing this trend is integral to the success of the President’s National Export Initiative to double U.S. exports over a five-year period.

Foreign firms with U.S. operations contribute to the U.S. economy in numerous ways, ranging from job creation on our shores, to contributing to our global trade balance.

These firms recognize the unique opportunity presented by an integrated U.S. platform of economic stability, open-market principles, a well-educated workforce, a focus on innovation, and access to global markets. For these and many more reasons, firms from around the world target the United States for business investment and further strengthen the overall global competitiveness of the United States.

Invest in America is the lead United States government effort to promote and support foreign direct investment (FDI) into the U.S. It is a part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. To learn more, visit investamerica.gov. Tazeem Pasha is an International Investment Specialist at Invest in America.

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GOVERNMENT

Economic Development Corporation of Utah

Rediscovering a Great American City Salt Lake City’s Economic Prosperity By Emily Haggstrom

I

t’s a city perfectly situated for a balanced life of work and play.

Nobody knows this better than residents of the greater Salt Lake metropolitan communities, nestled between the Great Salt Lake and the steep Wasatch and Oquirrh mountain ranges, lending to dramatic sunsets and staggering colorful vistas fit for an artist’s pallet.

For the most part, Salt Lake has been attributed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), weekend ski trips, and films at its annual Sundance Film Festival. But what businesses are slowly figuring out and what outsiders will soon embrace about this quiet city, is that Salt Lake is a prominent source of business and employment with a renowned and undeniably reliable workforce.

Whether this is attributed to a trifling nightlife, a rich outdoor lifestyle or simply the desire for rich family culture, residents and transplants of Salt Lake’s metropolitan communities are proud to live in this evergrowing and vibrant state.

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It is during one of the nation’s worst economic slumps that Salt Lake and the state of Utah have had what some may consider an economic deliverance. The city and its surrounding metropolitan areas are thriving with new manufacturing facilities, sprawling new business campuses, and data centers popping up in every part of the city, while other parts of the country are experiencing development stagnation.

Growth persists in key industries as Salt Lake continues to lead the charge nationally in a quest for sustainable economic recovery, courting some of the biggest names in business by offering huge economic incentives in the form of tax breaks. Global companies like Oracle, eBay, Adobe, Goldman Sachs, and Proctor & Gamble are either expanding or locating to the Salt Lake valley and working with all that Utah has to offer. “Success breeds success, and we want companies that fit together and offer opportunities to each other,” said Jeffrey Edwards, president and CEO of the Economic

Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah), a public-private partnership that assists businesses in relocating or expanding into the state.

However, most of the state’s success can be attributed to the government of Utah — it shines as a bright light among states in the West with a balanced and stable budget that offers consistency in the face of an on-going fiscal crises. In what could be considered a truly conservative move, the Republican-forward state cut a third of the government functions, saving money and allowing contracted private sector entities to fill many former government roles. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development, an executive branch agency of the state, believed there was no reason to do what the private sector could do better, so the state gave EDCUtah the ability to offer performance-based incentives and site selections to ensure a fair-minded approach for all parties involved.

“We manage the state taxpayers’ money, and are very proud of the fact that we manage it with a high degree of private sector professionalism.

And even though it is tax dollars, we expect a return on our investment.

One of the key factors of what we do is post performance,” said Michael Sullivan, director of communications at Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

By strategically courting companies that fit the model of each individual community’s economic climate and workforce, EDCUtah and the Office of Economic Development use a targeted approach to insure businesses and communities succeed despite individual business volatility. This helps support incentive programs whereby companies receive a percentage of their tax credits based on population and job growth.

“Economic Development in Utah is a team sport. Governor Gary Herbert has set his vision for the State, ‘That we will lead the nation

as the best performing economy and be recognized as a premier global business destination.’ This goal relies on unprecedented partnerships forged between the business community and government at all levels,” said Spencer P. Eccles, executive director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development. “We utilize a mix of natural incentives found in our unparalleled quality of life, we maintain a business-friendly environment through low taxes and sensible regulations, and we offer competitive postperformance tax credit incentives to bring the best companies, globally, into the Utah business community.”

With the recent addition of international consumer products giant, Proctor & Gamble, who expanded its manufacturing arm into Utah, the state is poised for continued growth and development.

“Our experience in Utah — opening P&G’s first new plant in the U.S. in more than 40 years — has been outstanding,” said Joe Tomon, plant manager of the P&G facility, based in Box Elder County, Utah. “We chose this site for many reasons, including the availability of appropriate land and space, its location relative to the areas we most needed to ship to customers and consumers in the west and northwestern portions of the U.S., availability of adequate natural resources, the skilled work force, and a strong partnership with state and local leaders. Overall it has been a wonderful experience, and we deeply appreciate the warm reception we have received from folks in the community and across the state.”

Although Utah is known primarily for manufacturing, producing everything from paper to aircraft, it is courting other key industries to diversify its economic climate. “There really is some of everything, which is a real strength for us, so that as one particular industry has a downturn we don’t feel the effects of that like other cities have felt,” said Edwards.

» The city and

its surrounding metropolitan areas are thriving with new manufacturing facilities, sprawling new business campuses, and data centers popping up in every part of the city, while other parts of the country are experiencing development stagnation. « 04.11 - 06.11

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GOVERNMENT

Economic Development Corporation of Utah

Lehi, Utah — labeled the new Silicon Valley — is being targeted for its ever expanding technology sector. And while most tech companies that start in Utah often leave after experiencing substantial growth, Omniture, a Web analytics company recently acquired by creative software company Adobe, has decided that it will remain in Salt Lake, allowing the local talent to stay while Adobe continues to grow its presence across the country. “Adobe’s previously announced expansion plans in Utah are a natural extension of the growth and success of our Omniture Business Unit operations.

And, Utah has proven to be a great place for Adobe to do business. We’ve found the region to offer vibrant communities, a skilled talent base, and a business-friendly environment,” said a representative from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Playing its role, Utah University, one of the original locations linked by a packet satellite to the ARPANet, aides in maintaining Utah’s technology industry’s long standing historical relationship with Silicon Valley. As technology is developed, having local organizations like Adobe, that are catalysts for business and understand the need for new and innovative ideas, these universities become more important than ever. Now companies like Microsoft, Twitter, eBay, Oracle, NSA Federal Data Center, and a major Fortune 100 company are set to announce their presence in the valley and will become beneficiaries of the local schools.

And to stay competitive with other schools like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Utah universities have been integral in creating over 40 new businesses through on-going research and development. “Universities are economic engines. If you treat them correctly and give them the resources that they need, they really are drivers of the economy,” said Edwards.

Capitalizing on the strength of their resident talent and seeing the progress made by the local universities, which have been catapulted to the top of national statistics, a special program called Utah Science Technology and Research Organization (USTAR) was created to attract national and international thought leaders to Utah, and was awarded $250 million in funding by the state legislature. By bringing in these elite research teams,

» "We manage the state taxpayers’ money,

and are very proud of the fact that we manage it with a high degree of private sector professionalism. And even though it is tax dollars, we expect a return on our investment. One of the key factors of what we do is post performance." « - Michael Sullivan

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Utah is poised to set new standards in research and innovation, improving the economic environment for graduates, residents, and transplants to the city and across the state.

With the addition of these new companies and the steadfast entrepreneurial spirit of Utah’s existing businesses, the state is also leading the nation in trade, doubling its exports on the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union address where he emphasized that, “To help businesses sell more products abroad, we set a goal of doubling our exports by 2014 — because the more we export, the more jobs we create here at home.” And this is just what Utah is doing. With the collective support from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development coupled with the Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah), Utah is on track to retain stable and sustainable businesses across the state. “Exports are a wonderful barometer of economic health,” said Jeffrey Edwards, president and CEO of EDCUtah.

Over the last five years, Salt Lake has seen 3.5 percent annualized growth, with almost 70 percent of the new jobs in the Salt Lake City metro area. Like other urban cities, sections of Salt Lake’s downtown include run-down industrial areas that are more of an eye-sore than an economic driver. However, the city devised a plan to transform areas of disrepair into attractive areas. One such example is the City Creek project, described as a “sustainably designed, walkable urban community of residences, offices, and retail stores rising over the next two years on approximately 20 acres across three blocks in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City.” Primary funding from the private sector helps to drive the project and avoids bureaucracies that exist within any city. With the completion of the City Creek project in 2012 the three square block development will serve as an example of community capitalism at its finest.

It is clear that Utah and the City of Salt Lake are brimming with capitalism and pride. Despite the many misconceptions about this state, luring businesses in is not one of them. Over 250 possible new business ventures sit in the pipeline ready to break ground and move in. With low taxes, access to multi-faceted skilled workers, and a zest for businesses that produce return on investment comparable to other large states, why wouldn’t companies want to be in Utah?

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BUSINESS

Business Roundtable

Corporate

Tax Reform Critical to American Jobs and Competitiveness By Larry Burton ( 28 )

04.11 - 06.11

T

here’s a lot of talk in Washington, D.C. about how to get our economy moving again.

Some talk about making our workforce more competitive, promoting trade or reforming and removing regulatory burdens that prevent businesses from expanding and hiring more workers. All of these are good ideas that should be pursued by policymakers.

But today I want to discuss another policy area that has been in serious need of reform for years – the U.S. corporate tax system.

There’s widespread recognition that our tax system is one of the most outdated and anti-competitive in the developed world. It’s true, and it’s a major problem for America’s competitiveness, which is critical for U.S. job creation. American multinational companies are responsible for 63 million American jobs and must be able to compete on a level playing field with non-U.S. companies.

Yet, America has one of the highest statutory corporate tax rates in the world at 39.2 percent (inclusive of federal and state taxes), fully 14 points higher than the average of our competitors in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We are also the only G-7 country that taxes businesses on foreign earnings when they’re brought home, which is effectively a double-tax not faced by most of our competitors.

Nearly every other developed nation employs a “territorial” system that exempts these active earnings from domestic taxation.

Even our research and development (R&D) tax credit, once the envy of the world, has fallen way behind the incentives offered by our competitors. By 2009, the competitiveness of our R&D tax incentives ranked just 24th out of 38 OECD and advanced emerging countries.

Collectively, our tax system makes us an outlier among developed nations, putting U.S. companies at a severe competitive disadvantage abroad and hindering their ability to invest and create jobs at home. And with unemployment still painfully high, a tax overhaul is needed now more than ever.

Even so, there remains a lot of discussion questioning if American businesses pay their fair share. Some contend that, while our statutory corporate rate may be high, the effective rate – the average amount U.S. companies actually pay on their tax returns – is low.

Not so.

Business Roundtable recently commissioned PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) to conduct a study examining the global effective corporate tax rates reported by U.S.

and foreign-headquartered companies on their financial statements. And what that study found was striking. Among the world’s 2,000 largest businesses, U.S.-headquartered companies faced an average effective tax rate of 27.7 percent over the 2006-2009 period, compared to an average of just 19.5 percent for their foreign-headquartered competitors.

That gives us the sixth highest effective rate among all 59 countries included in the survey.

There is no doubt that fixing the outdated and complex tax code is a monumental undertaking. But federal politicians need only look at states and other countries to understand where to begin.

The international trend is overwhelmingly for lower corporate taxes. Canada recently announced plans to further reduce its federal

issue directly to Canadians in one of the only recent national elections featuring corporate taxation, among other issues, as a significant theme – and sure to be a losing one, in the opinion of most pundits.

Yet, on May 2, in a result that should hearten advocates of competitive tax policy, Harper led his party to a resounding – and largely unexpected – majority win.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s party generally outperformed expectations in the U.K’s May midterm elections. And in Ireland, a newly elected government has pledged to defend the 12.5 rate just as aggressively as the one it replaced.

Sometimes simply doing “what’s right” can be politically advantageous in addition to just making sense. In these countries, citizens were willing to reward policymakers who made the tough choices necessary to promote jobs and prosperity – even on something as seemingly politically perilous as reducing corporate taxes.

In the U.S., there is wide agreement that our tax system is flawed. It is encouraging that Administration officials and congressional leaders are working to address this problem. But it’s still far from certain that we will see effective reform this year. That’s a problem.

We are still emerging from the worst recession in decades, and there is much more economic ground to make up. Unemployment remains high at around nine percent and our GDP growth rate in the first quarter of 2011 was just 1.8 percent. In order for us to achieve true recovery, economists agree that our economy should be expanding at a rate of at least three percent and creating more than 300,000 jobs each month. Serious pro-growth policies – such as meaningful corporate tax reform – are needed to give American businesses the confidence to invest and hire, helping move these numbers up to where they need to be.

For America’s workers and families, further delay and inaction is simply unacceptable.

Congress and the President must work together to enact serious reform that lowers the U.S. corporate rate and adopts a competitive “territorial” system, like the rest of the world, that does not impose a tax on foreign earnings brought back home. Otherwise, America will see its competitive position erode and with it, more American jobs.

» There’s widespread recognition that our tax system is one of the most outdated and anti-competitive in the developed world. « rate to 15 percent, cutting it nearly in half since 2000. Even while reducing spending and raising other revenue to reduce a huge deficit, Britain recently announced a new round of planned corporate tax cuts. Ireland, which has cut deeply and raised taxes to resolve its fiscal crisis, has refused to budge on one thing – its 12.5 percent corporate rate.

Likewise, at the state level, many governors are moving ahead to reform and reduce business taxes. Just as with countries, states compete against one another to serve as headquarters for businesses and to encourage commerce in their locales. Bringing down state business taxes is especially important for competitiveness given that Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming have no corporate income tax at all.

The trend – globally and locally – is clear. While Washington, D.C. hasn’t made a serious attempt at reform since 1986, states and other nations are taking important steps to create the best possible environment to keep local businesses, attract new ones, and spur job growth.

But let’s make no mistake – fiscal policies are complicated and making tough choices can be politically risky. In March, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper chose to let his government be defeated in Parliament rather than budge on his 15 percent tax plan.

Forced out by the opposition, he took the

Larry Burton is Executive Director of Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of leading American companies with nearly $6 trillion in annual revenues and more than 13 million employees.

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Bronco Wine Company

photography: Lisa Adams Walter

BUSINESS

Fred Franzia in the vineyard

Collaborative

Leadership All in the Family By Kim DeCoste

I

COSA seeks to inform, inspire and educate as it shares success stories from likely and sometimes unlikely angles. Such is the case here. This story of collaborative leadership and success is one that is overlooked by many because Fred Franzia is a bit of a lightening rod. However, there is another important take-away from the Bronco Wine Company and Franzias’ story. For business leaders, students, and politicians, the Franzia family story is a case study in entrepreneurism, innovation, growth and job creation, and risk management. It is a fascinating and complex glimpse into the true agrarian roots of California - one of the top ten world economies – and into one industry which boomed there, the American wine industry. ( 30 )

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California has its challenges today, but looking back at the early history of the settlement of the state, the heart of its success and longevity lies in the fields. It was born on the backs of immigrants and the brave souls who wandered west in search of success, gold, or both. The Chinese and Irish who helped build so much of the infrastructure and the Italians and Latinos who made things grow are as deeply a part of the state today as they were then. And the Franzia family is one of those families.

BACKGROUND Fred Franzia and his family, through Bronco Wine Company, are epic wine producers in California and are now partnered

around the world. They are the 4th largest wine company in the U.S., behind Gallo, The Wine Group, and Constellation. The volume of wine they bring to the market is staggering. A recent subject of the History Channel’s Modern Marvels, Bronco has, for example, one 42-foothigh tank which holds the equivalent of 3,500 wine bottles per vertical inch. It is just one of 413 tanks of various sizes at the headquarters in Ceres, California. One journalist said the winery looked like a “tank factory” when she met with Franzia.

Franzia is as unapologetic as he is determined and as such, he is revered, feared, and respected in equal measure by most around him. He may seem an unlikely CEO, managing a massive empire with his brother Joseph, and their cousin John (thus the name “Bronco” - the contraction of “brothers and cousin”) from a trailer parked across from the guard station in Ceres. His other office is the dusty old Jeep Cherokee he uses to oversee the vineyards he loves. Franzia is the face of Bronco. He is the heart and soul of Bronco and he is – just Fred.

It is an inspiring and complex story of third generation Italian-Americans, the current Bronco leadership, who have come from humble beginnings. Giuseppe Franzia, their grandfather, moved to central California in 1893 and settled in Ripon. His wife Teresa, came later from Italy – not having met Giuseppe before they married – and they raised five children. They produced wine until Prohibition in 1917 and then again after its repeal in 1933. It was one of their daughters, Amelia, who married Ernest Gallo, and thus the families remain connected.

The schism that began in 1971 is a tough chapter and one not often discussed. Fred’s father, Joseph, and Fred’s uncles sold the company, Franzia Brothers, to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York for just under $50 million, and as part of the transaction, the next generations of Franzias were forbidden from ever using their own name again in any wine ventures. However, after many years, the brand shuffled back to a San Francisco organization which maintains the iconic white box brand.

ENTREPRENEURISM This is where the lesson begins. Fred, born in 1943, was raised in the wine business as was his brother Joseph, and their cousin John. It was a foregone conclusion they would continue the family business. As a result of the sale of the brand to Coca-Cola, Franzia did not speak to his father for seven years. “I just didn’t feel selling was the right thing to do, and I told my dad,” said Franzia to an INC. reporter, Kermit

photography: Lisa Adams Walter

Âť They had to look at an industry rooted in tradition to figure out how to do things more effectively and drive profit ÂŤ

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BUSINESS

Bronco Wine Company

Patterson, for his 2006 article entitled The Scourge of Napa Valley. It is that article’s title that serves as an example of the acrimonious feelings Franzia has towards the buyout.

For anyone who has ever taken a concept, put it into a business plan and hung up a shingle or printed a business card for himself, the idea of being self-employed or building a business is a thrilling prospect. But it is daunting. Imagine what the Franzias must have gone through when they decided to recreate their forbearers’ success.

Joseph had gone from Santa Clara University to become a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart.

Cousin John gravitated toward the agricultural side of the business and had a true affinity for the land. Fred had been talking about wine since he could speak and had studied the business inside and out. From a young age, Fred had an intuitive understanding of matters that usually come with experience. He was known to discuss the business even as a youngster with his friends’ fathers. People with names like Mondavi and Sebastiani are his friends to this day.

On December 27, 1973, the young Franzia men started doing things their way. Fred would be chairman and CEO, Joseph co-president responsible for distribution and John copresident for production. From scratch, on 40 acres, they have built an empire that few, if any, will ever rival.

The strategy was straightforward, even if the business itself was complex. The Franzia’s controlled their own distribution in California which has served them well over time. Today, Classic Wines of California handles Bronco’s

main distribution; however, they also distribute others’ products. And along the way they came to understand that the more aspects of the production they could control, the better off they would be. To succeed, they had to be willing to take extraordinary risks, and they had to look at an industry rooted in tradition to figure out how to do things more effectively and drive profit.

INNOVATION Though Franzia is famous for saying, “Nobody should pay more than $10 for a bottle of wine,” Ron Russell pointed out in San Francisco Weekly, “He speaks not as a connoisseur, but as a businessman who takes delight in knowing the precise cost of juice, glass, cork and label.” To those most frustrated

by Franzia, those who criticize his “Two Buck Chuck,” he stands firm. Critics say he’s charging less for wine than some charge for bottled water.

Franzia’s response? “They overcharge for water.”

In fact, nobody appreciates water more than those who rely upon it for their business.

Grapes need water to grow and water to become wine. And, California’s unique culture has kept water scarcity issues on the forefront of the discussion since the early seventies.

Bronco handles irrigation and water management with cutting edge attention to detail. Real-time soil moisture monitoring is essential. Vineyards are on drip irrigation so that fertilizer is precisely applied only when needed.

Weather stations calculate needs and stream in real-time to a web-enabled feed that the vineyard

» Critics say he’s charging less for wine than some charge for bottled water. Franzia’s response?

“They overcharge for water.” «

photography: Lynda Fiesel, FIESEL advertising&design

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managers and wine makers can monitor. Bronco even grows its own beneficial algae to keep reservoir and drip lines clean and to consume damaging soil salts to protect the vines.

High tech tools with soil maps, aerial photos, variable rate fertilizers, and targeted sample sites are loaded into handheld GPS devices for those who must constantly scout the vineyards. Bronco’s Napa Valley Distribution Center (NVDC) uses Unisolar technology, a thin film laminate on photovoltaic panels that is flexible and light. It does not negatively impact building structures by adding significant weight, and it is tremendously efficient for the purposes of climate control within the warehouse and offices. Careful attention to the deployment of this clean technology innovation allows the building to have an “ice chest” effect, keeping heat out and cool air in. Reduced refrigeration means reduced energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Collaborative innovation is evidenced by Bronco’s partnership with Verallia for the use of ECO Series™ glass for its bottles. Bronco is the largest U.S. user of the Verallia ECO Series™ which is lighter, less costly to ship — both empty and filled, takes less energy to produce, creates less landfill waste, and is 100 percent recyclable. Verallia’s wine sector uses 100 percent of the recycled glass it collects.

One of Bronco’s brands, Down Under Cellars, won the prestigious Clear Choice Award in 2010 its the super lightweight packaging. This industry honor is bestowed by the Consumer Product Goods Manufacturers and sponsored by the Glass Packaging Institute.

These and other measures have enabled Bronco to continue to prosper, and Franzias formula for success seems to remain, “Deliver value, reinvest in the business, and screw the pretense.”

GROWTH AND JOB CREATION It is impossible to capture the pace and scope of Bronco’s growth in the constraints of this article. The success has been astronomical and few people are privy to the true bottom line. They do say publically that they own 40,000+ acres of vineyards in California, and they are the state’s largest grape grower. Their reach stretches from the Sacramento area to the edge of the Tehachapi Mountains, which are about an hour north of Los Angeles. Despite the company’s size, much data still remains “all in the family” and it most likely will. There are trusted leaders within the organization — lifers, many. The winemakers, like Ed Moody and Bob Stashak have remained loyal to the Franzia’s for years. Dan Leonard, vice

president and treasurer is “like” family from an organizational standpoint. But, there are others, too. Throughout the United States, there are employees managing multistate regions for the family; some are nearing 15-20 years of tenure. Many ask why they stay with Bronco in such a competitive and dynamic industry. Most say, “Leaving is hard to imagine.”

While the size of the organization has grown, so has its scope. Partnerships and investment relationships with up-and-coming brands, as well as with other storied families around the world, are starting to give Bronco the new and old world credentials many hoped they would develop.

From Argentina to Chile, France, Spain, and Italy to South Africa, the Franzias have established trusted relationships with peers in order to expand their portfolio of products.

All the while they remain the thorn in the side of many in California who begrudgingly come to Franzia to sell surplus grapes and juice at deep discounts, to bottle their products, and in some cases to manage their portfolios in their entirety.

The Bronco portfolio is vast, but many “everyday” brands such as Fat Cat, Napa Ridge, Salmon Creek, Crane Lake, and Douglass Hill are common and are leading brands in their respective categories. The tagline they use in the Antares Wine Division, which represents about half of their wines, is “Wines for the American Table™.” That is the goal — everyday wines for everyday folks. Nothing fussy. Just good wine people can afford. Franzia says, “I don’t make wines to stick in a closet. I make wines to drink.” Terroir? Well, Harlow Ridge is named after the street in Napa where the bottling facility is located. It can deliver 18 million cases of wine a year. That is double the annual production of all of the Napa Valley!

No pretense there.

Officially, Bronco does say that they bottle for other Napa wineries, but they decline to mention brands. Wine maker Bob Stashak explains, “This [bottling] line will put out about 240 bottles per minute. There are three lines. They run 24 hours a day, five days a week. When we get to the holiday, we kick in with a sixth and seventh day.” It’s certainly a far

Harlow Court Winery

Neither could be further from the truth for him or for Bronco. Franzia “charges on” daily with a regimen few could maintain. Seven days a week of work — most of the time starting at 5:30 a.m. and going well past 9 p.m. — often ends with a simple dinner at a local restaurant where he’s greeted by regulars on a first name basis despite his personal and financial standing.

Have there been glitches?

Yes. No success story is complete without chapters that reflect false steps. Franzia’s legal battles are the stuff of legend. He has appealed a judgment he thought was unfair to the U.S. Supreme Court where judges declined to hear his final appeal. When that happened, many celebrated while Franzia accepted the consequences. That is also a measure of a leader, by the way. Accepting responsibility on behalf of an organization when it fails is a trait many would argue has been missing in corporate culture. Franzia did, calling it “a business decision” and noting “someone had to take the fall.”

Today, many wonder what Bronco’s next steps might be. Nearly all 13 of the next generation of Franzias are employed by the company in one way or another, including two of his children, one a retired Navy SEAL. His son Joey Franzia is assuming greater leadership roles — managing national distribution and brand acquisition — while his cousin Damon, Joseph’s son, deals with brand acquisition and distribution within California. Fred, Joseph and John continue to navigate the challenges of a tough economy, stiff competition, and eager critics. All the while, those connected to the company stand by waiting with eager anticipation to see when, if any, of the original founders will “retire.” One could only guess, but my money stays in the camp that says Fred will be in that trailer across from the guardhouse in Ceres until he can’t be anymore.

His family and his company are his life.

» Partnerships and investment relationships with up-and-coming brands, as well as with other storied families around the world, are starting to give Bronco the new and old world credentials many hoped they would develop. « cry from the first 40 acres back in 1973.

The story of the evolution of the brand most know as Two Buck Chuck is interesting because that obscure label was acquired, with rights to the name, after the fallout of a broken marriage. The gentleman who is the namesake had to liquidate his assets, so Franzia picked up the name for $18,000. Then he sat on it for nearly 10 years.

The real “gasoline” on the Franzia family’s “fire” was the partnership with regional grocery chain, Trader Joe’s, to create Charles Shaw Wines. Trader Joe’s selected the label out of several, and Franzia agreed to make a good bottle of wine exclusively for them which would retail for less than $2 — thus the moniker Two Buck Chuck. It has become the fastest-growing wine brand in history, and in its own way, has elevated Bronco even further.

Critics are abundant, but in 2007, Charles Shaw Chardonnay beat 350 other California chardonnays to win Double Gold at the State Fair Commercial Wine Competition.

THE LAST LAUGH To say Franzia has had the last laugh would imply that he’s nearing the end or that he has experienced the pinnacle of his success.

Kim DeCoste is the Director of Career Services for Colorado Technical University and President of DeCoste & Associates, LLC. She can be reached at: kdecoste@colroadotech.edu or 303.362.2948.

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BUSINESS

VMT Technologies

An Energy

Production Windfall VMT Technologies Engineers Innovative Equipment for the Wind Industry

By Emily Haggstrom

Gary Lee, Inventor

A

s our current society completes the first decade of the 21st century, hindsight becomes 20/20. In just a century, at the pace the world and especially the United States use fossil fuels, it will be impossible to meet future demands of the increasing world population. For this reason, scientists, researchers, and engineers are producing technologies and seeking alternative sources of energy to alleviate fossil fuel dependence while also working to reduce emissions during energy production.

Currently, renewable energy represents roughly 19 percent of the world’s energy use

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according to the International Energy Agency.

Of that, wind energy supplies only around two percent, leaving a large gap for manufacturers, producers, and suppliers to capitalize on many different factors for growth. With the world’s use of wind energy growing 31 percent in 2009, of all renewable energy sources, procuring wind has become a very attractive prospect.

The United States, once an international leader in wind energy installations, has taken a back seat to China who surpassed the one time wind giant in total installations — accounting for just over 50 percent of new wind turbines and leading the world market. However, according to the 2011 World Wind Energy

Report, Europe holds the highest number of shares of wind power between Germany, Denmark, Portugal and Spain, reinforcing these European countries’ commitment to clean energy.

Although wind is a free and infinite resource, harnessing that power and ensuring production is no easy feat. High upfront capital costs are intrinsically associated with wind energy, making any investment into the industry a large one. The intricate design within the tower and turbine blades are tremendously expensive pieces of equipment, susceptible to fatigue failures, all of which are costly to maintain.

Each windmill turns on average 20 times per minute using a fixed rotation, as a variable speed has not been introduced by VMT Technologies yet. During high wind conditions, the existing technology signals an interface that feathers the blades and slows the rotation to avoid damage, thus decreasing output. Unexpected wind gusts or torque spikes pummel the gearbox inducing anywhere from 200,000 to 1 million extra foot pounds against these transmissions daily further causing fatigue which wears down the gearbox.

Gearboxes are approximately the size of a minivan and would be efficient with a fixed transmission if only mother nature would provide fixed wind speeds. However, variable wind speeds cannot be predicted or controlled causing existing transmissions that are warrantied at five years to expire closer to two years after installation. Much of the long-term costs associated with the maintenance of these installations are from repair and return service of these parts. In fact, wind farms that could historically exist with five installations need additional installations just to account for lost production when one mill fails.

Wind Turbine Installation of Universal Transmission

» Wind energy is becoming an increasingly important component to our nation’s energy policy. «

W-10 Universal Transmission

The industry, however, is projecting solid growth despite monetary setbacks. Wind energy is becoming an increasingly important component to our nation’s energy policy, but must be complemented by other sources of fuel to balance out the costs of producing a single kilowatt of energy. “Wind generated electricity sells for 14.5 cents per kilowatt hour, whereas nuclear, gas, and hydro sell for between 3 and 6 cents. Coal is about 7 cents.

That’s a problem,” said Dick Wilson, chief executive officer of VMT Technologies.

However, engineer Gary Lee of VMT Technologies created what he calls a

Universal Transmission — an innovation that will further the wind industry and advance technology that will benefit many other sectors. The original design was created out of sheer frustration when Lee would burn out the belt of his snowmobile. “The heat burnt the belt in the transmission,” said Lee. “I knew there had to be a way to incorporate positive displacement instead of friction.”

After years of research and development, what Lee created was a similar weight transmission that required no clutch or torque converter. This specialized, positively

engaged Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) can change speed at incrementally infinite ratios in response to wind gusts and speeds, allowing the gearbox within the transmission to act more as a shock absorber than a metal grinder. “You could be going one mile an hour with the transmission engaged and you can then change the gear or the ration inside the transmission and go 1.2 miles per hour,” said Lee, giving an idea of just how small and quick the internal transitions are.

These new features reduce gearbox failure rates. Current turbines would be readily retrofitted with the new CVT design, increasing the longevity of the equipment. Warranty time frames would be met - leading to increased efficiency amongst the windmills - further eliminating the need for additional and costly repairs. “VMT’s technology can provide an immediate solution to the greatest challenges facing wind energy manufacturers,” said Lee. One major challenge of the wind energy producers is regulating and maintaining a 60 Hz output, which comes at a high cost. Lee’s creation would improve overall efficiency by maintaining output rpm’s. “Wind may be free, but VMT is here to make it profitable,” said Wilson.

The technology doesn’t just work on windmills. In fact, it transitions easily into electric and hybrid vehicles, semi-trucks, heavy equipment, and military vehicles. “We see the immediate need coming from the wind industry,” said Lee, who has focused his innovation there for the time being. His green creation leans towards the continued efforts across the globe to reduce greenhouse gas emission while increasing efficiency.

“Now that we’ve received our patent, we’re happy to open the curtain and show the world what we have,” said Lee.

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BUSINESS

PepsiCo

» If you want a culture that is innovative, you must have bright, motivated, satisfied people. «

Performance With Purpose PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi By Kim DeCoste

I

t may be hard to imagine how the CEO of an iconic American consumer product company can truly be innovative. We all know what happens when our favorite products try too hard to reinvent themselves. (Pepsi’s rival cola certainly learned that the hard way a time or two.) Consumers are funny and fickle, and they do not like change when it comes to some things. American consumers are particularly challenging as we take the freedom of “choice” quite seriously in all that we do. We like to choose, and we do not like people to limit the options. Give us healthy chips on the store shelf ( 36 )

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where we want Fritos and we get angry. We choose with our dollars and we go to the next store, where the Fritos are in the right place.

While few can relate to the pressure faced by those in the top Fortune 100 companies, few will ever have to. It is an elite group of some of the most talented and accomplished people in business. Their dedication to their companies and the industries in which they operate is unmatched. In that crowd, Indra Nooyi stands out among CEOs in the United States for a couple of obvious reasons: she is Indian-born and raised, and well, she is a she. Asked which of those two factors makes a greater difference

in her leadership style in a conversation with the Asia Society in April of 2009, Mrs. Nooyi said, “I cannot separate those things.” She further noted that the title “CEO” now has a lot of negative connotations to consumers and citizens. She is highly aware of her obligation to serve not only shareholders and employees, but to maintain a quality organization with far-reaching connections.

Then there is the whole problem of the global economy. PepsiCo does not just operate in the United States, but rather it has a massive international reach with presence in more than 200 countries. It is in its own way a “citizen” of many cultures and lands, and as such, it must be a “force of good in society,” said Nooyi when discussing Innovation with the Business Roundtable.

The products that PepsiCo represents are some of our most familiar brands in the U.S. Together, the 19 product lines under the main businesses of Quaker Oats, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi-Cola constitute the world’s largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands. And, each of the brands generates “more than $1 billion in annual retail sales,” according to company reports. This amounts to approximately $60 billion in revenue.

GROWTH & JOB CREATION Nooyi commands a mighty army of people at PepsiCo. With its global presence comes nearly 300,000 people worldwide, and with that, she recognizes a tremendous responsibility. Listening to her speak, you know right away that she is keenly aware of the, “soul of the company” and her own long-term legacy as the fifth CEO in a line of accomplished gentlemen. She also maintains an excellent relationship with her predecessors (and in one case the widow of a predecessor).

Collaboration is obviously part of her leadership style. Indeed, she is profoundly humane in her approach and in the way in which she clearly values the individuals who stand beside and behind her. When she talks about her Vice Chairman Mike White, respect and friendship are clear in her voice.

The story of her ascension to president and

CEO on October 1, 2006, and then later to chairman in May of 2007, is an inspirational one. The grace and humility with which she approached the roles is an example to all leaders, current and future, about how one can rise to power with dignity and authority without alienating the workforce. To hear the story told or to read the details, the striking absence of ego in the process she underwent is remarkable and admirable.

PepsiCo has a clear sense of its own corporate culture. Listening to Mrs. Nooyi talk about her team and her advisors, she refers to the, “kitchen cabinet” of former CEOs with whom she is regularly in touch, with great respect. She talks about her 27 executive committee members and how she regularly handwrites notes to their spouses, thanking them for supporting their spouses’ involvement in the organization. Finding and sustaining talent is one of her great concerns.

Indra Nooyi is the chief architect of the

» PepsiCo does not just want to be environmentally impact neutral; it seeks to put back more than it takes out. « company’s multi-year growth strategy which she labels Performance with Purpose.

Performance with Purpose resonates with those who share ICOSA’s approach in that it purports to have a multi-dimensional agenda.

Item one - Human Sustainability: Nourish consumers from treats to healthy eats and shift toward, “good for you” products. Item two - Environmental Sustainability: PepsiCo does not just want to be environmentally impact neutral; it seeks to put back more than it takes out!

And then arguably, the most daunting challenge because the human element has inherent unpredictability, is the talent sustainvability. The way in which Nooyi discusses this reflects her correct perception that making PepsiCo an attractive and competitive work environment is key from a functional and operational standpoint, of

course, but more importantly, if you want a culture that is innovative, you must have bright, motivated, satisfied people.

Her take on the challenge, “How do we create an environment at PepsiCo where people can bring their whole selves to work?”

Stunning! The notion that one does not, and in fact cannot, leave his/her “life” at the door when the work day begins is refreshing and allows people the freedom along with the responsibility to do what they need to do when they need to do it. Particularly for the newest generation of young workers, this question around “work/life” balance is significant. Often the requirement for flexibility is seen by older generations as arrogance or laziness, but it is not always the case. In fact, the “Gen Y’ers” or the “Millennial” generation are happy to work longer hours and multitask. They value being respected to manage their own time, and they

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BUSINESS

PepsiCo

highly value companies that not only do well, but also do good.

Beyond these concerns, Indra Nooyi’s PepsiCo is facing a paradigm shift that impacts all of us. She calls it, “an era of profound change” and says, “The era of thrift is upon us.”

She notes, “People are rethinking today how they spend and what their priorities are.” Governments are struggling to understand what their role is in these challenging times as they look to drive business and support industry while balancing the political pressures they face.

And whole economies are being revolutionized – literally – by their people. “What,” wonders Nooyi, “is the new capitalism? Is it unfettered capitalism? Is it regulated capitalism?” She goes on to point out, “Companies like ours that tried to ‘go global’ are now faced with the threat of protectionism.”

INNOVATION

- Indra Nooyi

LOOKING AHEAD

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None of us has a looking glass, of course, so we cannot be sure about the future, but when asked to look ahead and surmise what PepsiCo and she personally might be up to in, say, 2020, Mrs. Nooyi is clear in her vision. “I want PepsiCo to be a defining corporation. That would be my dream.” As she is looking to her future legacy, she says her goal is to create a, “corporation that can be a force for good.” She continues, “Nobody’s going to remember you for the earnings delivery. You will be remembered for what lasting impact you had on society.

Did you run a company which after you left, sustained itself? Created jobs?

Grew its footprint?”

What might she do at some far-off time in the future? Well, it’s too soon to say, but Mrs. Nooyi would like to give back to the United States. She would like to, “work on a serious problem” at some point and she does not, “want a paycheck for it.” She just wants to solve something. As to whether or not a government position is in her future? No, she says, “I cannot go through a confirmation process. It would be too intrusive.” She is, after all, the mother of two and happily married. It is not her calling to serve government in that way.

In the meantime, as she continues to lead PepsiCo forward, she is able to inspire and educate those who watch her approach to leadership and her success. At the heart of it, there is still something special and different in Nooyi. She is a very people-oriented leader for a massive organization and, at the end of the day, she says she still is mindful of her upbringing and her cultural roots. She reminds her own daughters, “Don’t let your net worth define your self worth.” And she continues to bear in mind an ancient Sanskrit quote, “Treat the world as if it is your family.”

» "Companies like ours that tried to ‘go global’ are now faced with the threat of protectionism." «

This is when the conversation gets interesting. Mrs. Nooyi goes on to talk about the fact that, “Governments are starting to realize that they can’t do it all themselves. They need private partnerships…corporations are going to be held accountable not to add cost to society.”

Taking the charge, for example, that companies like hers contribute to childhood obesity, Nooyi addresses this head on, and with a highly innovative long-term approach.

Although the company produces a sugary beverage that is criticized, of the approximate $45 billion in revenue, (in 2008) about 10 percent of that was from soda. She goes on to remind us that nobody forces anyone to drink it, and “anything consumed in excess is bad.” But where the innovation comes into play is that by carefully managing that portfolio, overall in recent years we have seen, “growth in servings of beverages to be up about four to five percent; however the growth in the calories in those servings is decreasing — of course due to the penchant for sugar free and zero calorie drinks.”

PepsiCo understands the pressure that it is under to be responsible with the products it offers, so it continues to drive toward healthier foods and balanced offerings. It was the first company to take all trans fats out of its products. PepsiCo continues to grow its whole grain portfolio, like SunChips, and it uses heart healthy oils whenever possible around the world in the production of its foods. ( 38 )

today and with respect to the economy — I don’t think there is anyone in government who is not listening. Be participatory.” These challenges will only be addressed if citizens lend their interest and their expertise to help drive for solutions.

» "The era of thrift is upon us.

People are rethinking today how they spend and what their priorities are." «

- Indra Nooyi

PepsiCo is also a member of the Food and Beverage Retail Manufacturing Industry Association and is working toward common labeling conventions on food and beverage in the United States. This will help consumers know what is in all the products they eat and drink. And while government cannot afford to make physical education mandatory, industry can and does come to the table to help support healthy lifestyles. As of April 2009, when she addressed these points, she said that in the United States, Illinois was the only state that had mandatory elementary physical education.

We have to look at our own eating habits as a society, and decide what we can do to adjust generation-long bad habits and try to instill new, healthy habits. “This too can come from private and public partnership,” Nooyi asserted. “Industry creates jobs, keeps the wheels of the economy turning. Government should celebrate us, not regulate us.” And she goes on to say, “If we work together, I think we can get to the right solutions.” However, she does not want to be perceived as an armchair quarterback of government. When asked if she had any advice for the current U.S. President, she said, “In administration we trust. We have to.” But she also invites participation in the process, noting, “When you have a problem of this magnitude — in government in the U.S.

Kim DeCoste is the Director of Career Services for Colorado Technical University and President of DeCoste & Associates, LLC. She can be reached at: kdecoste@colroadotech.edu or 303.362.2948.

Colorado Jobs

MAXIMIZING POTENTIAL

IS OUR BUSINESS

9235 EAST 10TH DRIVE BUILDING 859 DENVER, COLORADO 80230 (720) 858 - 3206

YOUR COMPUTER TRAINING SUPER HERO WWW.DENVERDATAMAN.COM (720) 254 - 1249

BUSINESS

Denver Metro Small Business Development Center

Women-Owned

Businesses

Overcoming Barriers to Growth By Tameka Montgomery

H

ere are the facts: According to a 2011 report by American Express OPEN, there are estimated to be more than 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States, employing nearly 7.7 million people and generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenue.

If U.S.–based, women-owned businesses were a state, they would rank second behind California and above Texas as the state with the largest economy. If they were a country, they would be the 13th largest economy in the world, ranking above Australia and Mexico.

Women-owned businesses are launching at nearly twice the rate of male-owned businesses.

The Guardian Small Business Research Institute projects that women-owned businesses will create 5-to-5.5 million new jobs by 2018—more than half the 9.7 million new jobs expected to be created and about onethird of the 15.3 million total new jobs anticipated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics by 2018. These figures sound impressive; however, a closer look reveals something I find concerning.

While the number of womenowned businesses is growing, they appear to have hit another glass ceiling. The average women-owned business employs 0.95 people and generates, on average, $160,000 in annual revenue.

The average annual revenue of male-owned businesses is 3.5 times more than womenowned businesses. Furthermore, only three percent of women-owned businesses reach $1 million or more in revenue as compared to six percent of male-owned businesses. Clearly, there are some barriers to growth that are causing women-owned firms to underperform and not reach their full potential.

I believe there is nothing inherently different about the capability of a woman to grow a thriving company. That begs the question, “How do women grow businesses that can have serious economic impact through job creation and increased revenues?” I am not suggesting that all women should seek to

Tameka Montgomery

running a business. A report done by the National Women’s Business Council indicates that “research shows that the only statistically significant predictor of business growth is not the industry, size of business or length of time in business; it is the entrepreneur’s goal for growth.”

Women business owners must resist the temptation to postpone establishing performance goals until the business is past the start-up stage. Women who have built successful companies set high goals for growth early on. Identifying these goals sooner than later can have an impact on the way they operate their businesses and could play an important factor in their abilities to pursue growth opportunities in the future.

“Establishing high growth goals from the outset makes the business owner think differently about her business and drives decision making. Women with the faster-growing businesses say they behaved as if they had $1 million firms long before they achieved that level of revenue,” cited further in the report by the National Women’s Business Council.

» While the number of womenowned businesses is growing, they appear to have hit another glass ceiling. «

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grow multi-million dollar businesses; however, I do think that the possibility and the vision for this goal should be given more serious consideration by women entrepreneurs, as well as the community resource partners working with them.

While portions of this issue can be addressed through regulatory changes and the commitment of large corporations to do business with women-owned businesses, I would like to focus on a proactive approach by the woman business owner. Women who have grown highperforming businesses share these traits: 1. They set goals, goals, goals: We have heard it said over and over that people who have clearly defined and written goals achieve higher levels of success than those without. This model holds true in

2. They fall in love with running the business: Many people start a business because they have a passion for something or a particular skill or expertise, not because they have business acumen. More often than not, the business owner is wearing multiple hats and may even fear giving up control because she may feel that the service delivery will not be at the standard or quality that she desires.

However, if the business is going to grow, the business owner has to transition from doing everything to delegating.

The Business Council’s report goes on to state, “Women say their goal is to keep the company at a size where they personally can stay involved in product or service delivery to ensure the quality and customer service that is their critical market differentiator.” This mindset can be a significant barrier to growth.

Entrepreneurs who have gone on to build substantial businesses understand the importance of making the transition of always working “in” the business to working “on” the business. The key is to build a team and invest the time in creating the systems and processes so that the culture and values of the entrepreneur herself can be replicated by her staff.

3. They don’t fear the financials: Recently, in a conversation with the founders of the company 10 til 2, co-owner Jodi Olin indicated that she recognized early on the importance of having a partner with a strong financial background. She insisted, while looking for a third partner, that this prospective individual had to have this skill in order to create a well-balanced leadership team of founders. While the numbers can be intimidating, in order to grow, an entrepreneur must change her attitude about managing her company’s finances.

The report goes on to say, “Women business owners who are focused on growth and expansion…are much more likely to embrace financial measurements as a major component of their business strategy. They produce more financial reports more often, review them regularly and use them to drive business decisions.”

Lack of financial vision is an area of weakness that we see often at the Denver Metro

Small Business Development Center. Many entrepreneurs do not understand the financials and do not recognize the role they play as a decision-making tool. To gain better control over the business, it is a good investment of time and resources for an entrepreneur to learn how to understand her financials and not hand this responsibility to an outside accountant or bookkeeper. The increased level of confidence that will come with this skill will increase the entrepreneur’s ability to build banking relationships and approach the use of outside capital in a thoughtful way.

4. They set performance indicators: The quote “what gets measured gets done,” is a great reminder to identify your most critical measurements and remain focused on these key performance indicators. Beatriz Bonnet, owner of Syntes Language Group, shared with me that she knew early on that she wanted to build a business that had value. To do that, she invested time in understanding the metrics that are used in business valuation. She has incorporated these metrics into her business and uses them as a guidepost to remain on track for building a company with value.

» It is not uncommon for women to limit their networking to groups specifically designed for women. « 5. They leverage multiple networks: Women are great at building relationships; however, as business owners, it is not uncommon for women to limit their networking to groups specifically designed for women. While there is value in the camaraderie of being with other women, entrepreneurs should engage in more diverse business networking settings.

Leveraging networks to build business and industry knowledge can be instrumental in gaining access to decision makers and being exposed to marketing channels that could help grow the business. The key to joining these groups is a high level of engagement.

The level of engagement will determine the amount of value gained from the membership.

Opportunities should be sought out to take on leadership positions that will increase access to other leaders and decision makers.

6. They are bold and courageous: Life coach and author Margie Warrell asks, “What would you do if you had no fear

of failing?” While business success is not guaranteed and everyone’s definition of success is different, I believe that women choose to become business owners because they have a vision for themselves that is far larger than what is possible within their current circumstances. To achieve that vision and build a business that is able to break the barriers to growth, women entrepreneurs must boldly and courageously press forward as if “failure is not an option” as stated by Lisa Buckley, CEO of American Automation Building Solutions.

If women-owned businesses are to increase not only in numbers, but in size, incorporating these strategies of existing high growth companies would prove beneficial.

Additionally, resources designed to support the growth of these businesses should also include programs and resources with a focus on the potential of women entrepreneurs to start and run high-growth companies and move beyond basic business-planning services.

Tameka Montgomery is the Executive Director of the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration. To learn more about the Denver Metro SBDC visit: http://www.denversbdc.org

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BUSINESS

StoneAge Inc.

The Future Looks Like...

StoneAge

By Michael Connors

D

urango, Colorado, for those who have never been, is in an inspiring corner of the state where the high desert slopes upward to the base of the San Juan mountain range and white capped mountains pierce a deep blue sky. Life here is about the outdoors and the passion that flows from nature. Just a short drive from Durango is Purgatory at Durango Mountain Ski area, and over Molas Pass, one can find the more challenging Silverton Mountain. The Animas River runs right through the heart of the town tempting anglers from all over the world while daring rafters to take the plunge - stunning geography to say the least. And unlike many of the resort areas of Colorado, Durango is a place where room has been made for industry and business.

Furthermore, the people here are community-oriented and self-sufficient. The region supports oil and gas exploration and production, mining, manufacturing and is the home of Fort Lewis College. Granted, there are no single entities that dominate the commercial landscape, but the abundance of small business is its strength. It is in this thriving environment where StoneAge Inc., a leading water jet tool manufacturer is located.

Started in a garage in 1979 by John Wolgamott and Jerry Zink, StoneAge has grown into a thriving small business that is a shining example of innovation and job creation. Initially developed for uranium mining, the water drill they produced in 1979 ultimately found a home in industrial cleaning that is now commonly used in a variety of commercial settings including refineries, power plants, sewer and sanitation, as well as high-tech environments like NASA. This new technology allows operators to control the machinery remotely, increasing safety and productivity.

And as word has spread, StoneAge has increased its market share. In fact, sales growth has averaged over 18 percent per year since inception and is now over $20M net sales

annually. Average sales-per-month has risen from $300,000 in 2000 to $1,400,000 in 2010, all the while remaining highly profitable. “As employees and stockholders – we do have our cake and get to eat it too. We are able to live in Durango, Colorado, earn above-average wages, receive excellent benefits and be part of something that makes our world better,” says Wolgamott.

As a 100 percent employee-owned business, StoneAge is able to leverage the passion and investment shared by everyone who works there and, as a result, they are an extremely valuable contributor to what is normally an insular local economy. Their focus on innovation and development has enabled them to position their company as an industry leader that sets the standard, creating 12 new products between 2008 and 2009.

» "Being able to create good jobs is one of the most worthwhile endeavors I’ve ever undertaken.” «

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- John Wolgamott

Kerry Petranek receiving 2011 Export Award

Passion for innovation is really a byproduct that comes from the company. Making its people a priority is foundational as noted in John Wolgamott’s acceptance speech for the 2009 Pioneer Award presented by the Water Jet Technology Association in August 2009, “For me personally, being able to create good jobs is one of the most worthwhile endeavors I’ve ever undertaken.” Turnover rates are remarkably low and many of their employee-owners boast 15, 20, and even 25 years with the company — a rare accomplishment in any industry.

Accepting the 2011 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Exporting, Kerry Petranek, StoneAge’s CEO, noted that their location in Durango can be a logistical challenge but one that StoneAge has overcome. She believes that being based in Durango and maintaining their exceptional culture of employee engagement is their core strength and they market this unique identity with enthusiasm. In a recent interview, Petranek emphasized StoneAge’s strategy for moving forward. She said, “The world is getting smaller. Again, for us the U.S. market isn’t going to grow like the global market. It’s very important for us to look to the future.

How are we going to create more jobs and keep our employees happy by giving them growth opportunities while the company needs to grow? That future is international. “ StoneAge, a respected name worldwide, has developed strategic partnerships overseas which has helped them overcome challenges of doing business in foreign markets. As a result of their innovation and employee retention, they are wildly successful overseas, noting that, “Exports represent almost half of our annual sales for the last three years.” And as they grow their

» "For us, the U.S. market isn’t going to grow like the global market. It’s very important for us to look to the future. That future is international." « - Kerry Petranek

business and exports, they inject new vitality into the local economy. In fact, Durango, Colorado’s local economy is primarily based on the recirculation of the same dollars. But because 100 percent of StoneAge’s customer base is outside of La Plata County, the largest contribution to the community is through reduction in economic leakage by bringing new dollars into La Plata County — thus creating a stronger, more viable community.

As new business breathes life into the company, StoneAge is able to provide support and income that helps revitalize their community.

Through StoneAge’s Community Contribution Program, they support 50 local nonprofits with time and money, but the employee-owners are also encouraged to give of themselves to local charities as schedules are flexible to help make community involvement a priority.

Drawing inspiration and strength from their environment, the people of Durango seem to share the knowledge that they are the keepers of a special place. When I asked what makes StoneAge a special place to work, Petranek says, “There are almost too many things to mention. The best part is I get to come in every day and work with some of the best people I’ve ever met.” And, by creating an enduring legacy, StoneAge truly represents what is best about the future.

Michael Connors has an M.A. in literature and an extensive background in teaching. He is a Colorado native and spends his free time in the Rockies skiing and hiking.

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BUSINESS

Collaborative Job Resources: Denver DataMan

Colorado’s Underemployed

and Unemployed Resources for Jobs By Andre Takacs & Steve Kessler

W

alk into an office today and you will see an array of machines from computers to copiers (that do far more than copy), and phones (that do far more than call). And that does not count what is in workers’ pockets. People today walk around with more computing power in their pocket than it took to put a man on the moon. However, the question is: Do the people using these types of technology know how to use them in the ways they need to be used as productive tools?

There are varying, and oftentimes heated debates on what the government and employers need to do to fuel the job market.

Employers cannot be expected to provide fundamental skills training — they expect that the education systems have provided potential employees with the appropriate basic fundamental tools to get the job done.

It is expected that when someone applies for a job they have the skills needed to be in that position. When typewriters were the technology of the day, students were expected to pass typing tests in the public school system. Nowadays however, our public schools are not imparting the necessary skills needed for the use of computers in the workforce.

The rapid evolution of technology does not help the situation. Someone who used to be a computer expert two years ago may no longer be an expert unless they have kept up with their learning. This poses a significant challenge to employers to decide the skills they require potential employees to use and for employment support groups to ascertain appropriate training. The speed of technological change is not going to wane; in fact, it will only get faster. Thus, foundational skills are vital.

The knowledge gap is widening between those who know technology and those who do not. Programs like KidsTek (www.kidstek. org) work to bridge this digital divide and make sure that all students have access to technology and the social skills to move beyond being labeled the stereotypical geek. ( 44 )

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» The speed of technological change is not going to wane; in fact, it will only get faster. « Andrew Bissland, Program Director of KidsTek says, "Students need to be equipped with not only the computer skills for today, but the critical thinking skills to apply knowledge to technologies that have yet to be created." Factor in the population who come from difficult economic backgrounds and the gap grows even wider. "Technology skills need to be taught in all schools regardless of socioeconomic level," comments Bissland.

Computer skills are not the only skills people are lacking. Often people lack fundamental abilities, like general life and language skills, which play a significant role in individual employment. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, ex-offenders and

the associated costs to taxpayers have steadily increased, creating the largest burden on local government. Ex-offenders have a much more difficult time re-entering the workplace due to their criminal record and need specialized training programs and job search advice such as those offered through local and regional workforce centers.

At the federal level, there are programs like the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) that, in conjunction with state and local communities, provide potential workers with information, job search assistance, and directed training that provides employers with skilled workers.

Colorado’s unemployed and underemployed citizens have been receiving

much needed skills training through Colorado’s 52 workforce centers. These centers assist in job search support in order to help and ex-offender make a successful transition to new employment. And some of these trainings even provide the necessary computer skills for constituents to be more competitive.

Arapahoe/Douglas Employment by Design Workforce Center is one of these training centers that was specifically established to move individuals from dislocation and claimant status to employed status as quickly as possible.

Employment by Design was created to meet the needs of the unemployed in having greater workplace skills by receiving training and ultimately re-entering the workforce in a timely fashion. Employment by Design was funded through a stimulus grant comprised of federal and state funding.

Program services at workforce centers include access to a fully equipped resource center which supports intensive job search activities including: resume creation and critiquing, mock interviewing, employer targeted hiring events, labor market research information, general job search assistance, and computer training workshops.

Denver DataMan, a Denver based computer training company, was contracted in November 2009 by Arapahoe/Douglas Works! (ADW!) Employment By Design to develop tailored computer training for ADW! clients. These classes have focused primarily on Microsoft Office applications, but has also included basic computer skills, navigating the Internet, and computer skills needed for composing and writing resumes and cover letters. Computer classes like these support local job-seekers in a classroom setting while being supplemented by custom training materials.

Results from the partnership between Denver DataMan and ADW! Employment by Design has aided 610 individuals over the past two years and helped 150 people in obtaining jobs they otherwise would not qualify for due to their previous lack of computer skills. By writing its own curriculum, Denver DataMan can cater the material to the specific needs of clients. For example, when Microsoft Office releases a new version with a different navigation interface, the training material and classes are catered to meet those changes quickly by updating the content and adding relevant changes.

Jobs across all sectors of the economy, even in industries that are not expected to require computer skills, now often do. These computer skills could include checking in and out at work or submitting a part request. The Denver Regional Transportation District, for

Âť "Students need to be equipped with not only the computer skills for today, but the critical thinking skills to apply knowledge to technologies that have yet to be created." ÂŤ - Andrew Bissland

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BUSINESS

Collaborative Job Resources: Denver DataMan

example, uses Excel for maintenance orders on buses. New employees may never have had the opportunity or necessary skill-set to learn or keep up-to-date on this software, making it difficult to perform the job.

With the recent economic turbulence it is more important than ever to make sure that the national, regional, and local workforces, possess the skills they need to enter or re-enter the job market. Society cannot rest on its laurels and be satisfied with the workforce using the technologies of today; we must invest time and capital to ensure that we have a workforce ready to adopt and invent the technologies of tomorrow. From new computer systems to green energy, the American workforce is not only competing against others throughout the nation, but also those in developing countries making significant investments in education.

The role of the workforce centers is to provide workforce relevant skills in a more affordable and effective manner than through traditional education avenues. Having places where people can learn skills they are lacking and even refresh skills to be more marketable is a great asset to the business community and the community at-large. But what is also an

important aspect is that participants choose to be part of these programs, rather than being overlooked by other social entities.

Offices of today are only a window into the offices of tomorrow. Technology that is used today may be laughable in the future, like that of Apollo computer systems of the 1960s, but it is with the current technology that the foundation for future success is laid.

Success will only come with an educated and motivated workforce — by making sure people are trained to use modern technology.

With that, society can have a productive workforce that will provide for the training of the technologies that will eclipse current tools and bring about a more technologically advanced workforce. And with collaborations like that of the Colorado Workforce Centers and private training firms like Denver DataMan, public-private partnerships are closing the employment knowledge gap and are putting people back to work.

Andre Takacs is Lead Trainer & Consultant at Denver DataMan. Steve Kessler is Owner & Lead Consultant at Denver DataMan.

» Results from the partnership have aided 610 individuals over the past two years and helped 150 people in obtaining jobs. «

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Success Stories “During unemployment, I was extremely hard on myself — questioning my skills. I was fortunate enough to have been contacted by my local workforce center to participate in specialized workshops set up and designed for dislocated workers.

At first I started attending the workshops on an as-needed basis, but within a short time, I started cultivating relationships with Employment by Design staff, workshop facilitators, and networking groups.

I became extremely excited about the services and workshops being provided. All along I was gaining new, invaluable computer skills, labor market information, and amazing job search connections. Armed with this new knowledge, I began looking at companies that interested me, and applied for positions that matched what I wanted to do. I am happy to announce I accepted a fulltime position with MCPN Clinics.”

- Beth C. “I was employed in the education industry for nearly 15 years. However, when my employer told me that my position was being eliminated, I found myself without a job for the first time.

One evening, after a long day of job searching, I received a voice message recording from Employment by Design stating that they were offering a weeklong intensive job search and computer workshop to assist unemployed professionals. So I went to check it out.

After attending a number of free weekly intensive job search workshops, assessments, networking, and the fabulous computer training, I was so encouraged and motivated that this type of services was being offered in my community. I was exposed to and learning all of the high quality computer software applications that I never used while I was employed.

Andre from Denver DataMan, as well as all my facilitators, was awesome! The emotional and practical benefits and services offered through Employment by Design have been endless – you can’t put a price tag on these things. I can’t thank you enough.”

- Karen F.

BUSINESS

Society of Physician Entrepreneurs

I Shoulda, Coulda,

Woulda...

Innovation in the Healthcare Industry Is Now Easier By Triche Guenin

D

ilemma…

• Do you ever see or hear of a product or service and wonder why you didn’t come up with

that idea first?

• Do you ever come up with an idea for a product or service and wonder how to get others to know about it?

Many of us have great ideas but no concept of how to take them to the next level – and those in healthcare are no exception. But, The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE) is all about helping healthcare professionals get their ideas out to the marketplace. Founded in 2008, SoPE (www.sopenet.org) was created to provide education and support to physician and healthcare professional entrepreneurs from the idea stage through funding. SoPE now has 700 global members and is growing at 100 new members per month. There are five international chapters led by a steering committee composed of physicians, investors, medical device and drug companies, legal and other support organizations.

SoPE’s success is measured in a number of ways: accessibility, membership, member participation, educational opportunities, funding support, and ultimately the quality of the products and services that come to market as a result of the membership leveraging the organization’s benefits.

There are many examples of products or services that have successfully come to market because of SoPE’s influence and support. Dr. Paul Sierzenski, an emergency department physician, who in an attempt to make the ER more efficient, started Emergency Ultrasound Consultants, LLC (http://www. eusconsultants.com), which specializes in training and oversight for point of care ultrasound (e.g. emergency, trauma, critical care, anesthesia, pediatrics, and nursing).

The company partners to educate academic and community hospital employees, with a short term goal of expansion into national VA hospitals. Although the technology is known, the service is new. It is a means to reduce risk, decrease radiation exposure, and develop

highly skilled practitioners, while meeting regulatory guidelines.

And there is Dr. Murray Grossan, an ear, nose, and throat specialist, who started Hydro Med, Inc. to manufacture and distribute Hydro Pulse Nasal/Sinus Irrigators, a nondrug medication for sinusitis, post nasal drip, and snoring. As a result of his interaction with SoPE, Grossan is providing drug-free options to the public, encouraging patients to take charge of their own therapy, and developing new products (www.grossaninstitute.com).

As an indirect result of his SoPE interactions, Grossan has published two books — Free Yourself from Sinus and Allergy ProblemsPermanently and Stressed? Anxiety? Your Cure is in the Mirror.

Driven by pharmaceutical products’ negative impact on the environment, the rising cost of healthcare, and the moral issue of making money vs. producing waste, A. Kumar, a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, recently developed a tool to optimize the prescription drug

» By streamlining and “greening” the drug delivery supply chain, there is a significant reduction in the harm expired drugs pose to the environment. «

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supply chain for a sustainable future. By streamlining and “greening” the drug delivery supply chain, there is a significant reduction in the harm expired drugs pose to the environment when they leech out of the landfills or the waste water system in which they are disposed. GreenRx (www. greenrxcorp.com) recently launched its pharmaceutical exchange platform.

Dr. Nayana Somaratna, a primary care physician based in Sri Lanka, realizing the interactive and immersive characteristics of an iPhone, recently developed an educational application which allows healthcare professionals to learn how to make proper diagnoses, order appropriate lab tests and develop treatment plans.

The iPhone app, Prognosis: Your Diagnosis (www.prognosisapp.com)

industries. Additional examples of innovative products or services which have recently emanated from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College include the following: cutting-edge heart devices (Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub); liver surgical instrumentation (Professor Nagy Habib); and low power based diagnostics (Professor Toumazou). James Oury, a chartered accountant and senior partner with a London

was accepted within two weeks of submittal to Apple and became the #1 free medical iPhone app in the U.S. in December 2010, when it was also recognized as one of the leading startups in the South Asian region. The Android app version was released in February 2011, and currently boasts over 200,000 users returning multiple times per week. “I’ve found that the world is flat – the very fact that someone on the opposite side of the world can build a product popular in the U.S., without traveling there, shows that no matter where you are, opportunities are present,” said Dr. Somaratna.

Another SoPE success is the Londonbased team of electronic, biochemistry, and microfluidic professionals who co-founded DNA Electronics, Ltd (www.dnae.co.uk ).

The company has produced a microchip-based solution to enable faster, simpler, and more cost effective DNA analysis. This product is available in the commercial market, but the company is looking at potential applications in homeland security and the bio-defense

law firm, operates as one of SoPE’s resources for European-based efforts. He says of his SoPE colleagues, “…many personnel have demonstrated boundless energy, high acumen focus, and relentless assistance.”

Currently SoPE is the only organization of its kind representing the interests of physician and professional healthcare entrepreneurs.

As founder, CEO, and chairman, Dr. Arlen Meyers has based much of SoPE’s initial service offerings from personal experiences in taking new products or services to market.

He summarizes, "SoPE's mission is to help biomedical innovators get their ideas to patients faster. It's a great example of the power of global collaborative innovation networks."

SoPE currently provides its entrepreneurs with the following assistance: • Advice/validation of proposed business models • Connection with other key entrepreneurs in the industry (e.g. assessing research collaborations) • Introduction to leading angel investors (e.g. research/develop investments, fundraising)

•E ncouragement/motivation (e.g. articles, industry news) • S upport with legal issues (e.g. licensing agreements, CE marking, tax, and IP filings) •L eads to potential clients •A ccess to U.S. markets (the world’s largest market for healthcare products) •C ollaboration and potential approaches to international markets (e.g. UK’s National Health Service) •A commitment to ongoing support throughout the lifecycle of the product/service •P referred rates for educational events •N etworking with U.S. and international partners •A ccess to potential medical device partners or licensees Dr. Meyers hopes that members will leverage the services

» "SoPE's mission is to help biomedical innovators get their ideas to patients faster. It's a great example of the power of global collaborative innovation networks." « - Dr. Arlen Meyers

included in their SoPE membership to leverage and perhaps expedite great ideas into and across geographical markets, as well as medical disciplines. His vision is to accelerate physicianoriented biomedical innovations in order to facilitate improved healthcare and delivery systems, in whatever form that takes.

So, if you’re a physician and or healthcare professional entrepreneur with a great idea, don’t use the excuse “I shoulda, coulda, or woulda, if only……”

There is an organization waiting to help you make your dream a reality — it is the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs.

Triche Guenin is President of Denverbased Partners Through Change, Inc., a process improvement consulting firm that facilitates organizations in becoming more efficient and effective in everyday operations.To learn more, visit www.partnersthroughchange.com.

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Biotrends International

Helping Companies Start,

Survive and Thrive An Interview with CEO Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi, Biotrends International By Annette Perez & Jan Mazotti

W

hether you find her giving advice to a CEO or president of a start-up, working with a larger company on strategy, giving advice to major NGOs, or teaching classes on innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Denver, one thing is certain, Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi is passionate about innovation. “That is how we create the future. That is what the future is about. It is how we improve lives all over the world,” she says.

Dr. Shadi is a neuroscientist, biochemist, an HIV/AIDS expert, strategist, entrepreneur, international speaker, professor, and expert in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship. She is the president and managing director of Biotrends International, the founder of the Biotrends Foundation and three other life sciences and innovation companies, and founder and coeditor of Biotrends.org. Dr. Shadi is also an adjunct professor at the University of Denver at Daniels College of Business, College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the Women’s College. Dr. Shadi was born in Tehran, Iran but grew up in Europe where she attended boarding schools in England before moving to the U.S. She is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, is an advisor to USAID and the U.S. Department of State, and advises multiple multinational and small life sciences companies. In late 2010, Dr. Shadi founded a new initiative called Innovate America, a project focused on promoting entrepreneurship and innovation by working with companies across the U.S. on job creation in innovation in emerging technologies. Dr. Shadi has spent considerable time in Africa and Asia an several countries working with schools, orphanages and several organizations focusing on women’s health, childhood diseases and women and entrepreneurship.

She is currently working on a book on her experiences over the last five years. ICOSA had the distinct pleasure of visiting with Dr. Shadi about her work and ideas. ( 50 )

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Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi

» "When I started my company, I had been through years of schooling and training, but nothing in my background had prepared me for my life as an entrepreneur." « - Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi

ICOSA: Why so much talk about innovation?

Shadi: I believe in the impact of science and innovation. I imagine a future that is better than today, and then I go to work every day, intent on creating that world. The future is not about one single area of technology. It is about people from various sectors talking about the impact that their technologies could

have on the world. For example, information technology has had a major impact on our lives. Look at social networking — Facebook and Twitter — and how we communicate across the world with each other on the Internet and on Skype. The future will progress by incorporating many different innovations — innovations in life sciences, information technology, green technology, and the space industry. Medical research will help to improve the way medicine is practiced and how we treat patients, perhaps even how to prevent disease and scan for illnesses before the first symptoms occur. Or innovations in green energy could provide options for other alternative sources of fuel and energy for our homes, cars, and lives.

So you see why I am so excited about science and innovation — I love what I do!

ICOSA: What kind of work do you do with the companies?

Shadi: I get calls from entrepreneurs who need help with their company. Many times, these highly educated and accomplished individuals have the technical background to start a business, but they need help with the actual business structure and operation. Being both a scientist and business person allows me to go back and forth — to translate the science and also translate the business. I can sit at the table with the scientists and look at the data, and sometimes even suggest experiments, but I can also help the company in meeting business challenges. This trend is not going away. In fact, more technologists and scientists are starting companies, and they do not have the time to go and get an MBA to understand the discrete underpinnings of running an organization.

Being an entrepreneur myself, I understand the different stages of creating and growing businesses. When I started my company, I had been through years of schooling and training, but nothing in my background had prepared me for my life as an entrepreneur. There are a lot of fears and obstacles to becoming a successful entrepreneur — so now I share “real life” stories as I teach entrepreneurship and coach people through the entrepreneurial journey.

My associates and I assist companies in building realistic business plans and models, to grow here and abroad. We help companies with market introduction, building good management teams, and bringing the necessary resources to grow the business.

ICOSA: Many people argue that if oil prices drop, or if we develop better ways to extract oil and gas, we should not continue to invest in green technologies or alternative sources of energy. What do you say to that?

Shadi: The overall world population is growing. And in many countries like India, China, and Brazil even the middle class population is growing. All of these people are requesting, and sometimes demanding, access to clean water and more effective energy options. I recently spent a month in India interviewing companies and spending time with one of their largest banks, ICICI bank, and the growth models for the country were staggering, but not overly surprising.

As our world gets smaller, we will need more general resources and sources for energy — that is a fact. And, if we want to be in a position that we are not competing for resources in terms of simple supply and demand, we must invest in alternative sources of energy production and transmission. The world needs multiple sources of energy and fuel, and it is part of the reason why many oil and gas companies have started to refer to themselves as energy companies — because they are investing in alternative energy solutions. But the reality is that we need to find ways of improving generation and the transmission of power from solar, wind, and hydrogen outlets. I do believe that in the near future, we will experience great strides in the overall technologies of solar, wind, hydrogen and clean gas, as well as anything we use now for our energy sources.

And for what it’s worth, we must stay focused on the legacy we are leaving for the next generation, both here and abroad. We must constantly ask what we want our legacy to be. We must invest in the future — in a world where our innovations and discoveries will create a more sustainable world for our children and future generations.

» "We must put a major emphasis on all areas of education in order to succeed in the long term.

We cannot remain competitive globally if we don’t." « - Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi

ICOSA: What do you think we need to do here in the U.S. to improve our ranking in science and math education, while inspiring additional innovation?

Shadi: We definitely have a great challenge before us. U.S. students rank low internationally when it comes to math and science education, but we must put a major emphasis on all areas of education in order to succeed in the long term. We cannot remain competitive globally if we don’t.

If we don’t make this a priority, the U.S will no longer be competitive in terms of having enough engineers or scientists, or just simply people who understand science, technology and innovations. There are many ways of improving our educational system, and the time is now and not later.

I became a scientist because I love science.

Science has always been so intriguing to me.

But many times when I talk to kids in high schools, I am asked, “If I study science, what can I do with it?” When I hear that question, I realize that we have failed to teach children the importance of science from a young age, so they become disinterested very early. And by the time they are in high school and college, it is too late to get them engaged again. For us to have students who are interested in sciences, mathematics, technology, and engineering, we must ensure that they remain interested. If we do, I believe, we will have more students who will have the training to work in innovative companies in various capacities.

There isn’t a lack of ideas — in fact we remain one of the most innovative nations on the planet — look at all the great innovative companies and ideas that have emerged

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Biotrends International

recently. However, what we are doing is not enough. Many groups seem to focus on starting companies. But I believe that our greatest challenge is not how to start companies, but how to help businesses that start, ultimately survive the challenges and obstacles facing entrepreneurs today.

ICOSA: You seem to be a very extroverted, social person and not like a stereotypical scientist – what are your thoughts on that?

Shadi: Many people I meet tell me that, which I find very interesting. I guess I wonder what a scientist is supposed to act like. A big part of what we do is demystifying the traditional definition of scientists and science.

After giving regular public talks, I realized that the public does not understand enough about science and scientific process, but we also do a really poor job of translating science for/ to the public. Unfortunately, most scientists and technologists are trained to talk only to their peer groups. And those PR people who try to convey the science stories to the public have little or no science training. Therefore, the science and its implications often get lost in the public translation. A few years ago, at the Society for Neuroscience conference, a colleague from Harvard and I ran public education symposia for the neuroscientist members. We talked about why it was so important for scientists to talk to the public directly about its implications.

At www.biotrends.org, our online magazine, we have partnered with other organizations and experts to continue to share conversations and education among scientists, technologists, innovators, and the public.

And just a few months ago, we started the Biotrends Foundation, a nonprofit foundation to promote the public sharing of science, education of the public, and the promotion of science and math education. Through the initiation of the foundation came the Innovate America project. At the foundation, we believe additional partnerships can give real growth to innovative ideas focused on creating more companies and ultimately jobs.

ICOSA: How important are collaborations and partnerships in innovation?

Shadi: When I teach about innovative companies and how to manage them, we talk a lot about bringing the right team together — internally and externally. Innovative companies must look at the world as a global market — they can no longer just focus on a local strategy.

As the world continues to get smaller because of innovative technologies, partnerships will be paramount in strategic global expansion.

I like to think that my colleagues and I serve as a bridge — a conduit, if you will — where ( 52 )

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we find partners and strategic relationships anywhere in the world.

ICOSA: What do people say about you and how do you want to be remembered?

Shadi: In an interview I did last year, I was asked how I was inspired every day. This question reminds me of that. It’s more than, “What legacy do you want to leave?” I think all of us who are out there in the world of technology, science and innovation see glimpses of the future. Sometimes, I see technology and science years before other people do, yet I know what kind of impact those innovations could

» "When people ask me what I do, I say, “I thinkup the future.” My work is beyond imagining — it’s thinking it, visualizing it, and going to work every day and making it happen. That really inspires me." « - Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi

have on improving our lives — from making us healthier, to improving the way we live, to the way we communicate.

When people ask me what I do, I say, “I think-up the future.” My work is beyond imagining — it’s thinking it, visualizing it, and going to work every day and making it happen.

That really inspires me. Entrepreneurs also inspire me, because being one is not easy.

My global work benefitting women and children also inspires me. I want to leave the world better than I found it. I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference — not as someone who just thought about the future, but worked hard to create the future.

Dr. Shadi continues to teach about innovation and talk nationally and internationally on innovation and entrepreneurship and how to create more jobs. To learn more visit www.biotrends.org or www. biotrendsinternational.com. To follow her on Twitter go to @Dr_Shadi.

BUSINESS

Alpine Access

» "We look at companies who have incredibly high standards for customer service, and we try to emulate those standards." « - Chris Carrington

One-On-One with Chris Carrington CEO of Alpine Access By Luke Wyckoff

I

COSA: What is your background and how did you get into Alpine Access? Carrington: I received my undergraduate degree in economics from Indiana University. After graduation, I began working for Bank One which is now JP Morgan Chase. After a couple of years, I decided I was much more interested in sales than banking, and I eventually was recruited away by a financial services group called DDS. I went through their management development program and from there went into sales with DDS where I progressed into management, then operations, and eventually into global sales. I was president of the Americas division where I ran a ( 54 )

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600-person consulting team. I left DDS after 12 years and moved to Denver, Colorado where I became CEO of a small private equity company. I had to take that company through bankruptcy, re-package them after bankruptcy; and prepare them to be sold. I also worked for Capgemini Consulting for four years. Over the years, I met the equitybased companies involved with Alpine Access in 2002. So I joined the board in early 2006 and became CEO in July of 2006.

ICOSA: How big was Alpine Access in 2006 compared to where it is today?

Carrington: We were about $20 million and shrinking. We had never made a dime of

profit in the eight years we had been in business.

We had a great business model but had yet to make anything substantial happen. But that has changed. We’ve done about $128 million this year and are extremely profitable. Last year we finished our fourth year of double-digit growth.

We grew 43 percent in 2010, and the first quarter of this year we grew 77 percent.

ICOSA: Who are some of the people/ companies in business today that you consider to be great innovators?

Carrington: At the end of the day we are a Business-to-Business (B2B) type company. We serve Fortune 500 companies, so I always look to other B2B companies that are successful. I also look at some of the great consumer brands in terms of being innovative — like Apple, Inc. Apple is the creator of an elegant type of technology that provides a quality product and a unique experience from the moment that someone purchases it. We try, at Alpine Access, to create an environment for our employees that is very elegant — that the work is online and that employees can easily do their work in the comfort of their own home. We try to make our training a very smooth and unique process.

We look at companies who have incredibly high standards for customer service, and we try to emulate those standards. We are a young company and we have plenty to learn, but I think that our growth suggests that we must be doing something right in that area.

ICOSA: What would you attribute to your growth?

Carrington: First and foremost I would

give the credit to our unique business model.

The whole concept of our company is, why bring the employee to work when you can bring the work to the employee? The foundation the company was built on was the virtualized call center model. And in doing that, we opened up complete access to all the possible talent across the United States. While examining the competitive landscape, we see other call centers and customer service centers that have a very basic brick and mortar based approach and can recruit within a 30 mile radius around the call center. What’s different about Alpine Access is our ability to go where the talent is, instead of trying to get the talent to come to where we are. Because of that, we have a lot of productive, skilled individuals working for us. Customers have a better experience and therefore want to buy more, thus helping us grow.

ICOSA: With that growth, what are some of the growing pains that you’ve had to go through?

Carrington: When I first came to the company we were really focused on “easy calls” such as seasonal retail calls. We had clients like 1-800-FLOWERS. We used to flip through PowerPoint presentations to train our new employees because there really wasn't a high level of difficulty involved. We soon learned that there was no way to grow a profitable, sustainable company using seasonal retail clients. We really needed year-round Fortune

500-companies as clients because those calls are very complex.

Now we do advanced technical support. Training for those types of calls is more like 200 hours instead of 20 hours.

Our biggest challenge was finding out how to transfer knowledge to somebody who was never going to come to our location and sit in a classroom. We had to figure out how to train people, on their computers, in the comfort of their own homes, in an efficient manner. Back in 2007 we invented Alpine Access University, a fully integrated multi-media platform that allows adult learners in all 50 states to participate in a 200-hour training program and come away with a wealth of knowledge. That, in a lot of ways, has been our biggest challenge, but at the same time, our biggest success.

ICOSA: What types of things do you do as a leader that fosters innovation within the company?

Carrington: I listen to all of our employees, not just my management team. We are constantly surveying our employees asking them for their opinions and ideas. Our employees always have great innovative ideas. As a leader, I like to create an environment in which to nurture those ideas. I always try to create incubation labs that allow people to test ideas and spend the money needed to do so.

I believe in investing in my employees’ ideas, and I think that has really fostered an environment of innovation within the company.

We will be very close to being a $250 million company in a couple of years.

Because our model is so innovative, we’ve turned an industry

» "What’s different about Alpine Access is our ability to go where the talent is, instead of trying to get the talent to come to where we are." « - Chris Carrington

Kim Herrera working from home

Adrianne Vaiser working from home

upside-down. People are trying to catch up to us — but it’s just too late. We are an employeebased company where we value the strong bond between the employees and the employer. We don’t use contractors. We want Alpine Access to be a place where people can develop careers.

Last year alone we created 200 new management positions within the company, and 90 percent of those were promotions from within. People can have amazing careers from their home.

ICOSA: What will Alpine Access look like two years from now?

Carrington: Two years from now we will be the next Denver-based public company.

We have a very efficient growth model.

There are a lot of people who would like to participate in the growth of Alpine Access, and we’ll accomplish that through an IPO. Denver is often known as a city that loses large companies. We want to be a company that claims Denver as our home base.

ICOSA: If you had advice for executives across North America, what advice would you give them?

Carrington: America is the greatest pool of talent in the world. Too often, we are lured by lower costs of outsourcing overseas. Sometimes you need to look beyond the appeal of lower costs to understand the greater opportunities that are available to your business. Alpine Access’ model proves that. We’ve proved that you can re-invent an industry right here in America, be cost competitive, and offer a greater service.

Luke Wyckoff is the Chief Visionary Officer for Social Media Energy.

He can be reached at Luke@ SocialMediaEnergy.com.

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Enterprise Strategies to Grow Businesses

The Transition from Small to Midsize Company Developing An Enterprise Strategy to Create More Jobs By Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi

A

s the country focuses more on economic recovery and high unemployment rates, there are ever increasing conversations about innovation and entrepreneurship. One of the major questions is how to create more jobs and to ensure that small companies and start-ups grow larger. The transition by entrepreneurs from a small company to medium size is a path filled with obstacles and challenges — such as raising enough capital to invest in their business venture, organizing the different aspects of their business depending ( 56 )

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on whether they offer services or products, hiring the right people, bringing together the right management team, or creating a marketing strategy. All are integral to the success and growth of transitional companies.

ACCESS TO CAPITAL A major factor impacting the success or failure of any early-stage company is its access to capital. As entrepreneurs start their businesses, oftentimes they rely on borrowing money or raising investment from family

members, friends, and those who believe in the business. However, there is a time in the life of many emerging organizations, especially technology companies, when traditional funding methods have been exhausted, and the company falls into the proverbial funding “Valley of Death,” often failing to find additional financial resources and going out of business.

It is critical that innovative, early-stage companies create an advisory board and board of directors that can assist the company in creating a wider network of interested parties — especially funders and other investors.

Starting this process early is important, as it gives the company time to raise the appropriate funds for marketing and advertising or for research and development. In fact, over the last few years, the venture capital industry has been increasingly reluctant to invest in early stage companies due to the demand for tighter exit windows or faster returns on investment.

However, some angel investment groups remain actively involved in funding early stage companies. Unfortunately, many of these investment groups are focused locally in the states and/or regions where they reside.

Another way of accessing funding for research and development is for companies to apply for government grants or SBIRs.

These grants are usually small and cannot replace large capital infusions, especially for some science and technology companies whose research is capital intensive and expensive to perform.

FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE Another challenge facing technology and innovation companies is finding the right people to hire. This not only applies to hiring engineers, scientists, and people with a technical background, but also people who understand how innovation companies are managed.

Finding the right team is imperative in transforming a company from a small start-up to a medium sized company. The management team must be selected by people who understand the fundamentals of an innovative company — keeping in mind that the entire team does not need to come from a technical or scientific background. But in the end, all members of management must understand how to create an environment and culture that nurtures innovation, and ultimately ensures the company’s success.

PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS AND GOVERNMENT Supporting private sector innovation is a hot topic in many circles, especially the government.

There are many pushing for an extensive national conversation on the subject. Federal and state governments continue to consider better tax incentives for small businesses as some states have already done; however the progress is slow. There is also a need to focus on grant funding for early stage companies beyond the current SBIRs, perhaps to train employees who are entering a new profession.

MENTORSHIP Most entrepreneurs talk about the lack of availability and/ or accessibility to knowledgeable

» It is critical that innovative, early-stage companies create an advisory board and board of directors that can assist the company in creating a wider network of interested parties — especially funders and other investors. «

mentors and advisers who can guide them through obstacles and barriers on their path to success. Mentors, in many cases, either have built successful companies in the past or have been entrepreneurs themselves.

Often, senior family members, a board member, or other business advisors are needed to help an entrepreneurial company move to the next level. Mentors and advisors, in many cases, serve as a confidant for the entrepreneur; therefore, their personal and professional roles must be separated.

STRATEGY Finally, if a small company is looking to grow, they must have a clear, concise, measurable strategy.

It can be the fundamental factor of success or failure. A strategy plan is a dynamic document which needs to be written at the early stages of the life of a company and reviewed often by the management team.

Ultimately, moving companies from the small to mid-size range requires many fundamental building blocks. All are interconnected pieces that support strategy, drive capital investment, support innovation and research, and ultimately create more jobs.

Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi is a neuroscientist, Biochemist, an HIV/AIDS expert, strategist, an entrepreneur, International speaker, a professor and an expert in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship. She is the President and Managing Director of Biotrends International, Founder of Biotrends Foundation, Founder and Co-Editor of Biotrends.org and three other life sciences and innovation companies. Dr. Farhangrazi is also an adjunct professor at the University of Denver at Daniels College of Business, College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Women’s College. Dr. Farhangrazi was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up in Europe. Dr. Farhangrazi has spent considerable time in Africa and Asia in several countries working with schools, orphanages and several organizations focusing on women’s health, childhood diseases and women and entrepreneurship. She is currently working on a book about her experiences over the last five years.

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Performance Excellence Incubator

Performance Excellence

Incubator

Sustainable Transformation for Organizational Success By Laura Dowling

C

olorado’s first fast-track program is launching to assist executives in the implementation of the proven Malcolm Baldrige Award methods that boost and maintain long-term company performance. This innovative program is designed for C-level leaders — chief executive officers, presidents, and general managers — in business, healthcare, education, and nonprofit organizations. This new program, called the Performance Excellence Incubator (PEI), is based on 20 years of data from organizations that have achieved longterm sustainable transformation and is designed to implement customized processes similar to those that have transformed Baldrige Performance Excellence Program award recipients into high-performing organizations.

The part-time program, which starts September 2011, is extremely affordable at just $1,000 per month. Only 12 executives will be accepted into the first class, which will last 12 months, and includes six workshops and ongoing virtual support to complete practical roadmaps designed for immediate use.

The program is ideal for executives who: • A re responsible for organizational success; they know the buck stops with them; • Have tried to improve internal processes, but changes aren’t sticking; • K now staying in place is not an option; • Want proven, sustainable transformation for his/her company without paying exorbitant consultant fees.

“Many executives are frustrated that repeated attempts to transform culture and processes in their organizations haven’t worked,” said Ed Powers, PEI Marketing Committee chair and president/COO of Lifestyle Assets in Fort Collins. “PEI is the state’s first and ( 58 )

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received the prestigious award in 2004, and their professors have closely studied other Baldrige Award recipients, including Boeing, The Ritz Carlton, and Caterpillar Financial.

They fundamentally understand how organizations can maintain gains that will take them to the next high-performing level while remaining competitive.

Just like Baldrige recipients, executives in the PEI program likely will experience greater company profits, lowered expenses, improved customer service, and higher employee morale. But unlike Baldrige companies that typically experience changes over a 7-10 year period, PEI participants can expect to see results within 2-3 years.

“CEOs truly interested in embarking on a quality journey shouldn’t do it alone,” said Tom Nordwick, CEO of Converse County Memorial Hospital in Casper, Wyoming, who is a Colorado Performance Excellence recipient.

“The Performance Excellence Incubator will equip CEOs with the right tools and contacts with peers and industry leaders to help them successfully launch and maintain their quest for quality.”

"No doubt, the concepts of the Performance Excellence Incubator will lead to high quality and continuous improvement," said John Sackett, CEO, Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, Colorado, another CPEx participant.

The PEI program includes one-day classroom workshops, online services and coursework, and interactive sessions with peers. Participants will study Baldrige methodologies that have transformed companies in recent years. Select successes include: • S ales at a food manufacturer increased 72 percent in five years; •O ccupancy rate at a hospital jumped from 70 percent to 90 percent; •R evenues at an engineering/ construction firm grew 93 percent in 2006, from $14 million to $27 million; •P rofits doubled over the past five years at an industrial coating company; and •C ustomer satisfaction at a manufacturing plant grew to 95 percent.

» "PEI is the state’s first and only affordable program that provides C-level executives tangible methods to lead largescale, sustainable transformation of their companies into highperforming organizations." « - Ed Powers

only affordable program that provides C-level executives tangible methods to lead large-scale, sustainable transformation of their companies into high-performing organizations.”

The PEI program is led by world-class business experts from Colorado’s Monfort Institute, a part of the Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado and Colorado Performance Excellence who guide a peer group of C-level executives through accelerated coursework.

The coursework is based on the same performance and competitive principles that have transformed Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award companies nationwide.

The Monfort College of Business at UNC

For more information on PEI or to secure enrollment, contact Colorado Performance Excellence at 303-8932739 or visit www.coloradoexcellence. org. Colorado Performance Excellence is a regional nonprofit that helps organizations succeed through the effective application of principles and practices embodied in the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.

BUSINESS

Acumen Contracting Group

Acumen Contracting Group and C Different Foundation’s Matt Miller

By Luke Wyckoff

I

COSA: How would you describe your role as the CEO of Acumen Contracting Group (ACG)?

Miller: Currently we have about 100 employees and 400 subcontractors around the country. I manage the day-today operations and keep people motivated. I often make a lot of tough decisions that will keep Acumen one of the premier roofing and general contracting companies in the nation.

The business comes first — so I work hard to hire people who are more educated and smarter than I am.

ICOSA: How do you define innovation and how has it become a part of your business?

Miller: We are innovators within our industry — we try to do things differently. I have modeled the business after the book The Purple Cow. I want our company to be the remarkable “purple cow” within the industry.

Our industry is riddled with crooks and criminals and is notorious for taking people’s money and hiring illegal workers. We try to hire the best of the best. We run background checks on all of our employees. We pay all of our sales representatives as employees and give them health benefits and stock options — we don’t just 1099 them and pay them strictly on commission as a lot of other companies do. We are trying to be the first national/corporate roofing company, but the only way to get there is to hire employees rather than sub-contractors and share the future vision with them. They have to be on board. We want our employees to feel like they are part of something big and are helping contribute to the growth of Acumen. I like to think that we are the innovators of tomorrow for the roofing industry, like Howard Schultz from Starbucks.

ICOSA: Whom do you admire as being an innovator?

Miller: In 1997, I read The Warren Buffett Way. I admired him, his companies, and the way in which he conducted business. I think he has stood his ground and followed his beliefs. He is someone I admire for his business ( 60 )

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» "Our country has completely overextended itself to lead a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget." « - Matt Miller

practices and as a person. I also appreciate Steve Jobs, who has revolutionized technology within multiple industries. He is brilliant and truly a remarkable innovator.

ICOSA: What are your goals within the company over the next two years to facilitate growth and job creation?

Miller: Twenty-four months from now ACG would like to double revenues and the number of employees we have working for us.

We are in 12 cities now and I would love to double that and be in 24 cities within the next two years. Our goal is to continue expansion and open more offices across the country and get them all fully functioning and profitable.

ICOSA: What are you working on today that will help you meet that objective?

Miller: Social media! I am of the younger generation, and I really believe in the power of social media. We need a bigger chunk of the

market share and using the Internet is a great way to do that. We need to increase our SEO because I want customers to be able to find us on the Internet. We are going to use social media to expand out brand awareness and really get our name out there. We are young and there are still a lot of people out there who don’t know who we are.

ICOSA: What are some of the things that American companies can do today to help with job creation, innovation, and growth?

Miller: I think everyone needs to stop being so greedy. When I was in Europe in October, I was watching the news there.

France is bankrupt so they decided to raise the retirement age by two years. England is bankrupt so they have decided to decrease the wages of government employees and raise taxes. European citizens were all okay with this because they understood that everybody needed to pitch in and do their part to help bail the government out.

The United States, on the other hand, just prints more money. Corporate America has gotten very greedy, and that mentality has spread to the general public. Our country has completely overextended itself to lead a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget. I think everyone needs to step back and look at what’s really important. I believe that people need to have a stronger work ethic and not such a sense of entitlement. We are no longer the innovators of technology.

We need to step-it-up and start contributing to make a difference. We need to find more leaders and innovators.

ICOSA: Describe your role as Chairman of the Board for the C Different Foundation.

Miller: The C Different Foundation was founded to inspire visually impaired people to lead active and healthy lives. The foundation works to inspire and educate the community about the visually impaired by telling their stories and sharing the circumstances of the athletes and their guides. We’re about to celebrate our 10th anniversary and I remain so passionate about this foundation.

Being the largest financial contributor to the organization, I work to provide the mission and vision for the foundation. I also provide a voice for the approximately 300 people who are blind or visually impaired who are associated with the organization.

So many people fear going blind. Society often has a misunderstanding of the visually impaired. It’s my job to educate the public and share success stories. I am the organization’s biggest cheerleader.

COMMUNITY

Haroun Cowans, YouthBiz

An Entrepreneur’s Mission to

Strengthen A Community The Story of Haroun Cowans By Cate Anderson

T

he Story of a Young Entrepreneur

Five Points, one of Denver’s historic neighborhoods, resides northeast of the central business district. Once known as “the Harlem of the West,” this community supported thriving small businesses, restaurants, and jazz clubs that hosted the likes of musicians Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie through the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. In the late 1950s, the area began a social and economic decline with the influx of drugs and the rise of gang violence.

The consequence of this decline is still sharply felt today with graduation rates hovering below 50 percent, with one-third of neighborhood children living in poverty, with rates of violence markedly higher than surrounding metro-areas, and with many storefront and commercial spaces sitting abandoned and boarded up.

Enter Haroun Cowans.

Haroun with YouthBiz participant Elijah Huff at YouthBiz event

Presently, Cowans is working to revive this iconic Denver neighborhood through his own business ventures and by supporting entrepreneurial education among young people.

A native of the Five Points neighborhood, Cowans’ roots run deep. He attended high school in the area, has launched several businesses that have employed over seventy-five people from these neighborhoods, and he still lives nearby. Cowans’ current project is the restoration of the iconic Rossonian Hotel that is in the heart of the business corridor. From the 1920’s to 1950’s, the Rossonian was a hot spot for all of the great jazz legends traveling between the coasts. Built in 1912, this architectural gem has been vacant for years. Cowans has teamed up with Civil Technology, a private equity firm specializing in real estate, transportation and redevelopment in urban areas. The vision is for the Rossonian to house a restaurant and jazz club on the street level with office space above. “I see this project as a catalyst for a larger redevelopment of Five Points,” he explains.

Haroun Cowans, 2001

Cowans traces his entrepreneurial foundation back to his early years. “At eight years old, my favorite game to play was starting my own business and selling it to my cousins. I had the entrepreneurial spirit, but needed mentorship and support to cultivate it,” he notes. Growing up in an innercity neighborhood, gang violence, low high school graduation rates, and poverty were the norm among his peers. In 1994 at 16-years-old, Cowans applied for a job with YouthBiz, a local nonprofit organization that equips youth with entrepreneurial, academic and life skills. He names this experience as the vehicle that set him on the innovative track.

YouthBiz traces its roots back to the 1992 “Summer of Violence.”

It was formed by eight teenagers and a local business leader in

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Haroun Cowans, eighth grade

response to the 1992 outbreak of gang activity.

With a loan of $75, borrowed hangers, and jerryrigged equipment, the young people started a screen-printing business run out of a boarded up storefront. Soon, they were inviting their friends to come work in the business. It was urban guerilla entrepreneurship that would evolve into an organization that has today worked with over 4,000 young people and invested over $1.2 million in youth wages.

After working in the screen-printing business for a couple years, Cowans soon took on a leadership role in organizing and operating the program. “This role was one of the most important things I did as a young adult. It gave me insight into entrepreneurship and responsibility at a young age. Not only did I have a job, but I was in charge of running a business.” This early exposure led Cowans to start his first business at age nineteen.

» It was

urban guerilla entrepreneurship that would evolve into an organization that has today worked with over 4,000 young people and invested over $1.2 million in youth wages. «

Supporting Young Entrepreneurs “Having a first-hand experience as an adolescent enabled me to understand and see the value of these programs from a youth’s perspective. In my role as Board Chair for YouthBiz, I am now able to foster a vision for the future of this organization and the impact it can have on this community.” said Cowans.

To succeed in the shifting 21st century economy, young people will need skills and attitudes beyond those taught in traditional academic settings. Entrepreneurs have a unique ability to recognize opportunities, assess risk, and approach problems with creativity and innovation. These skills are desperately needed in socially and economically struggling neighborhoods and have the capacity to redefine the narrative for a community. “I think a lot of kids have an early aptitude for entrepreneurship, but if it is not nurtured and supported, it can be squashed by the social norms. We cannot afford to lose the ideas, ventures, and development that these youth can bring to our community,” Cowans elaborates.

“Investing and equipping young people who will be the innovators and job creators of tomorrow is the key. I believe entrepreneurship has the ability to change the trajectory of a community.”

While the challenges facing the teens of northeast Denver are great, YouthBiz works to expand the possibilities for entrepreneurship, education, and employment. Among youth who participate in the programs, measurable results are experienced — GPAs go up, risky behavior goes down, and plans for the future are made. In fact, several studies have observed the beneficial effects of

entrepreneurship education programs on youth.

Immediate outcomes include strengthened job readiness, civic engagement, interpersonal skills and academic performance. Long-term outcomes include higher levels of advanced educational attainment, stronger health status, a reduction of criminal behavior, and a more positive, holistic psychological well-being. As youth connect with educational and entrepreneurial opportunities, they develop the skills and courage to rewrite the existing narrative for their lives, their schools, and their community.

“As we work to build skills and character in the youth we work with, we do so through the lens of building community,” Cowans continues.

"Young people must explore the challenges facing their community, so they may be equipped with the context, tools, and character to create change." Cowans expands, “We need to develop young leaders and entrepreneurs who work to create mutually beneficial relationships between their businesses and the community.

This community is my home, so when I am hiring or developing vision and strategy for my business, I am always thinking how it can align with the needs of my community.”

Today, YouthBiz has retired the screen-printing business to focus on programs that develop entrepreneurial, educational and community leadership skills and attitudes among middle and high school aged teens. While programs focus on developing diverse skills and character traits, the foundation rests on creating young, enterprising leaders who have great vision for their futures, commitment to their community, and the creativity and capacity to make it real.

Cowans on the Welton Street Corridor (Five Points business district)

» As youth connect

with educational and entrepreneurial opportunities, they develop the skills and courage to rewrite the existing narrative for their lives, their schools, and their community. «

As communities – locally, nationally, and globally – face great economic upheaval, it is now, more than ever, vital to develop a new narrative for job creation and innovation with entrepreneurship at the center. “Entrepreneurship gives you options for self-empowerment. It gives you the opportunity to take control of your career and do what’s best for yourself and your community,” explains Cowans on the impact of connecting with the values of entrepreneurship at a young age. He goes on, “Hope, bravery, sincerity and transformation lie at the center of urban entrepreneurship. It is imperative to instill the values of entrepreneurship in this and other communities struggling economically. It is powerful in developing a sense of ownership and creativity.”

Cate Anderson is the Director of Marketing & Corporate Relations at YouthBiz. To learn more visit www.youthbiz.org.

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COMMUNITY

Green Spaces Colorado

Green Spaces Colorado Fostering Collaboration Among Entrepreneurs By Ben Bryan

O

n a bitter cold and snowy January evening, 20 or so people are earnestly taking notes – most on laptops and some in spiral notebooks. The topic is business and this could be one of many colleges or universities in and around Denver. But there is no professor, these are not students and this is not a classroom: these are entrepreneurs in a solar powered brick warehouse near Coors Field in downtown Denver.

Welcome to Green Spaces Colorado, a co-working space for social and green entrepreneurs. The event described is one of many such events sponsored by Green Spaces.

The speakers in this case are local venture capitalists, projecting their PowerPoint presentations on a blank wall where paintings from local artists usually hang. The audience, entrepreneurs all, sit on well-worn secondhand couches and miscellaneous chairs moved to the front of the 5,000 square foot converted industrial space and assembled into ( 64 )

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a casual semicircle. Most of the audience wear winter coats or heavy sweaters as the warehouse heaters are struggling to keep up with the arctic outside temperatures. Dogs are curled up at the feet of a number of people.

None of this interferes with the intensity either the speakers or audience members bring to this session. Questions are pointed, discussion is lively. The focus is how to raise money to get an entrepreneurial enterprise started: a fundamental and often misunderstand aspect of starting a business. The two most salient pieces of advice given that evening: it is hard work to raise money, and most often it is friends and family that must be relied on to get an entrepreneurial venture off the ground.

A close look around indicates that most of the audience are in their late twenties or early thirties, but a number are quite a bit older – entrepreneurs obviously on their second or third career. An equal number of men and women are in attendance. Despite the weather,

or perhaps because of it, the energy in the room is infectious with lots of hope and optimism.

After the presentations are complete and the formal question and answer part of the program is over, everyone partakes of coffee and tea and casually breaks up into small groups. People are asking questions of each other: What is your business? How are you currently financed? Have you thought about this or that? This is a crucial aspect of the Green Spaces experience – fostering collaboration among entrepreneurs and creating an environment that allows for structured and unstructured opportunities for interaction.

Instead of a faculty, instead of a professor, there is Jennie Nevin, the founder and owner of Green Spaces Colorado. She is more impresario than professor or manager. She guides the workings of Green Spaces with an informal and personal style, which belies both the passion and confidence she brings to the business. Her confidant is Hobbes, a Jack Russell terrier and mascot of the organization. He rides in the

» It is hard work to raise money, and

most often it is friends and family that must be relied on to get an entrepreneurial venture off the ground. «

basket at the front of Jennie’s bicycle, which is her preferred mode of transportation to and from work. Despite his size, Hobbes has 1,600 friends on Facebook and is the top dog on any given day when three or four additional dogs may be in residence at Green Spaces.

The Origins of Green Spaces Colorado The concept for Green Spaces originated in New York City some six years ago. Nevin was living there and was self-employed after stints in the private banking group of both Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney. She began to look for ways to foster her interest in the “green” movement, so with friends she helped to start a discussion group called Green Leaders that met regularly in different locales and grew to over 100 people. The mission of Green Leaders was to foster collaboration on green business ideas from a wide variety of industries such as the media, architecture, and finance.

Nevin knew firsthand the frustrations of being on her own yet needing advice on practical business issues such as building a website or developing a logo. Like many people who are self-employed or transitioning from one career to another, she was growing tired of working alone in her apartment and then relying on coffee shops as meeting venues. Networking opportunities were mainly through large and generally stiff and awkward events.

With Marissa Feinberg, a friend who shared her passion for “green” issues and was also self-employed, Nevin began to focus on the idea of a work and meeting space for individuals such as themselves, but also a space that could be a regular venue for larger groups like Green Leaders. Getting positive feedback from their circle of contacts, they decided to reach out to a broader audience by the unorthodox method of a press release announcing their concept of a shared or cowork space for the self-employed. Hoping for a modicum of attention, their press release was picked up by all the major news outlets in New York City, and Nevin and Feinberg were soon bombarded with positive emails. People went so far as to offer deposits, when a space, much less a business plan did not yet exist.

What followed was an entrepreneurial story in and of itself: quickly organizing a business, finding and furnishing a space on a shoestring budget, defining management roles, raising money, budgeting, and most of all, long hours of hard work. They found a landlord willing to let them use an old warehouse space in Brooklyn free for the first three months, but they had to clean it up themselves; it was spookily full of old mannequins and dusty from years of neglect.

Soon after Green Spaces New York commenced operations, a potentially competitive and more up-scale co-work space opened within a mile forcing Nevin and Feinberg to brand themselves as a co-work space for green entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs – a focus coincident with their own passion and vision, and a niche that proved successful. They soon had the cash to begin paying rent, and cash flow grew to break even within six months. Next, they began to think of opening Green Spaces in other cities.

Nevin visited San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Minneapolis and Denver in mid-2009. She quickly settled on Denver as the logical place for the second Green Spaces because she perceived a strong green community, but one without a lot of existing infrastructure.

She believed that there was momentum and significant opportunity.

Nevin was also attracted to the region’s entrepreneurial culture – not

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COMMUNITY

Green Spaces Colorado

to mention its outdoor-oriented lifestyle. She began setting up Green Spaces Colorado in August 2009, and after personally guaranteeing the lease, she officially opened for business in October 2009.

Nevin came to Denver to start the first in a series of satellite Green Spaces across the country. But in a short period of time, she has put roots down in Colorado and recently relinquished her ownership interest in the original Green Spaces New York. Her focus now is to continue to build and expand Green Spaces Colorado and pursue related entrepreneurial efforts.

Some eighteen months after opening, Green Spaces is over the 70 member threshold and is gaining new members at the rate of 5 to 10 a month. In fact, a previously used storage area is currently being renovated to create additional desk space.

On any given day, there are 20 to 30 people working throughout Green Spaces’ 5,000 square feet. There is a hum of activity. Most people are working on laptops at desks; the dress is casual. At one desk is a woman developing a web-based business to promote eco fashion; at another, a young man is running an existing business

The Green Spaces Space Green Spaces Colorado can be found on 26th Street, between Walnut Street and Larimer Street adjacent to downtown Denver. It is a one story brick building sub-divided into a contemporary furniture show room facing Walnut and Green Spaces itself. A non-descript metal door opens up to a spacious front room containing a reception desk and assorted couches for informal discussions. The floors are polished concrete, the walls bare brick and the columns wood. Exposed ductwork and conduit meander through the high ceiling and past numerous skylights.

Behind the front room is a large open space with desks irregularly placed around the perimeter – some of which are merely solid doors set on top of low metal filing cabinets. These can quickly be moved aside for the larger events held at Green Spaces – some of which attract 100 or more persons on a regular basis. These events can be fairs for handmade and locally produced products or a celebration of locally grown organic produce.

» A crucial aspect of the Green Spaces experience – fostering collaboration among entrepreneurs and creating an environment that allows for structured and unstructured opportunities for interaction. « that uses small windmills to power wireless Internet networks.

Green Spaces Workspace

Recently, the landlord, Bill Cutler, invested over $100,000 for a solar array on the building’s roof, which now supplies a majority of the building’s electricity. The building can be accessed by light rail - the 26th and Welton station is just five blocks away.

The Green Spaces’ business model is based on memberships, with different levels allowing for different use rights and access to the space.

In this way, it is truly co-working space as opposed to rental space or an “executive suites” arrangement. There are three tiers of membership starting at $50 per month and going up to only $350 per month. ( 66 )

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There are few amenities: a conference room, couches for lounging, and a galley kitchen for preparing coffee and light meals. Parking is on the street. But the members aren’t here for the amenities; they are here to work and to share with fellow entrepreneurs: share space certainly, but more importantly to share ideas, share stories and share aspirations.

There is a sense of purpose at Green Spaces Colorado, but there is a “coolness” factor at work as well. It is intangible but immediately perceptible; perhaps it’s the dogs or the loft feel of the space. It is a cool that is authentic because the Green Spaces Colorado members and their passions are authentic.

For more information about Green Spaces Colorado, contact Jennie Nevin at 1368 26th Street, Denver, Colorado. Email them at info@greenspacescolorado.com, or call at 303.720.6850.

COMMUNITY

World Trade Center Denver

Using the latest in videoconferencing technology, participants convened near the University of Denver at The Cable Center to connect live, engage in business-to-business dialogue, and collaborate with companies associated with the World Trade Centers in Twente, the Netherlands; Milton-Keynes, the United Kingdom; Marseille, France; and Stuttgart, Germany. The purpose of these dialogues was to connect with select regions of Europe in hopes of building a longstanding business relationship and of fostering new opportunities for both sides. Participants learned of the regions’ needs and how Colorado companies could fill those needs, all the while showcasing Colorado’s strengths and highlighting its needs as well.

Tapping the vast World Trade Center network of 320 World Trade Centers in nearly 100 countries may take some time, but starting with four markets at this year’s World Trade Day demonstrated the power of collaboration and showcased this network’s capabilities of facilitating new business for companies both in Colorado and abroad.

While the World Trade Center network provided the necessary connections abroad for this conference, it took several local organizations to help pull off a multi-country, real-time dialogue.

The World Trade Center Denver relied on the support of the French American Chamber of Commerce, the German American Chamber of Commerce, the BeNeLux Chamber of Commerce, and the British Consul General to serve as moderators for the various dialogues.

World Trade Center Denver Connecting Its Global Network LIVE! By Karen Gerwitz

W

hen envisioning a conference on international trade that is set in the center of the United States, images of shipping companies and trade show halls come to mind. However, World Trade Day 2011 was more about building relationships via cable networks, face-to-face dialogue, and visiting international delegations.

In 1935, President Delano Roosevelt declared the third week in May "World Trade Week,” and organizations have been celebrating it in their unique ways ever since. Denver has featured World Trade Day since the early 1970s, and the conference has been hosted by the World Trade Center Denver since its inception in 1987, with themes varying from “Global Business: Your Passport to Profits,” to “Trade in Turbulent Times: Great Challenge Brings Great Opportunity.” This year’s theme was “Focus on Europe – Direct Access to European Markets.” While World Trade Day in Denver has always been about educating companies in Colorado and surrounding states on how to export and succeed in international business, this year’s World Trade Day was all about making direct connections and collaborating within the global World Trade Center network. ( 68 )

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The moderators played a vital role to keep the dialogue flowing, but were also observing the select areas for follow-up, so that an industryspecific videoconference or trade mission sometime in the near future could occur. Several areas were identified as potential partnerships, especially in the fields of solar technology, biotechnology, green building, and university research partnerships.

»“I think the

moderators should keep a‘lowish’profile and let businesses talk to businesses. I already have some queries to deal with which should further promote UK/ Colorado Trade and Investment links.

We would do it again in a New York minute!”« - Kevin Lynch

And, as business people know, technology brings business closer to home, no matter where the buyer is located. Most companies that start out exporting do so because they received an international order from their website. This was the case with TogetherBe, a 3-person, Coloradobased company that manufactures baby carriers and exports them all over Europe.

Very soon, all companies associated with World Trade Centers around the globe will be able to connect on WTCA Live! – a social media network designed for the World Trade Centers Association.

The World Trade Center Denver is pleased to play a role in helping to make this a reality. With technology, collaboration today is easy, and there are no longer reasons for excuses that international business is not viable. Whether it is education, contacts or information one needs to succeed internationally, the World Trade Center serves as a resource to entrepeneurs to trade to prosperously.

Karen Gerwitz is the Executive Director of the World Trade Center Denver, which facilitates international trade by educating, serving and connecting businesses in the Rocky Mountain Region to the global World Trade Centers Association network. For more information, go to www.wtcdenver.org or www.wtca.org.

COMMUNITY

Design for the Other 90%

Developing World Design Solutions That Address Economic Challenges Innovations That Transform Lives By Rebecca Saltman

O

f the world’s nearly seven billion people, 90 percent have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted.

In fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, shelter and other basic needs. Yet, the vast majority of designers have traditionally developed products aimed at the wealthiest 10 percent of the planet’s population. Recently, a growing movement has sought to correct this imbalance and demonstrate that low cost design solutions cannot only provide basic needs for the world’s poor, but can empower them to develop their lands, create new businesses, and cultivate long term livelihoods.

So What is Design for the Other 90%?

Designers, engineers, architects, and social entrepreneurs are creating low-cost solutions to everyday problems, ranging from loadcarrying bicycles to solar-powered hearing aids. Many of these projects employ open market principles for income generation as a way out of poverty for the populations employing the solutions. The Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s exhibit Design for the Other 90% features more than 30 of these projects and will be coming to Denver in July, 2011.

Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor and marginalized, and the Design for the Other 90% exhibit explores a growing movement among designers to create lowcost solutions for this “other 90%.”

This summer-long exhibition will feature events focused on how smart, thoughtful design can meet global challenges. The curators hope to underscore how many of the solutions not only address important ( 70 )

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issues across disparate locales and societies, but can also be applied right here in our own backyard — providing both economic development and jobs.

RedLine, iDE, Green Spaces and the Do Tank are the stewards of this vital discussion in Colorado — a discussion that recognizes that although many of the challenges facing the developing world may seem remote, success or failure in overcoming these challenges will have an important local and global impact.

The Partners RedLine is a diverse urban laboratory where art, education, and community converge.

Its vision is to foster forms of social practice in the arts that inspire inquiry and catalyze change. With its dynamic physical space, talented resident artists, and proximity to some of Denver’s most culturally diverse neighborhoods, RedLine continues to evolve into a center for contemporary art where creative expression is celebrated and integrated into the fabric of the community.

A center for contemporary art, RedLine is dedicated to serving the community through art, education and the facilitation of critical discussion of local and global issues. Redline believes that art and design foster forms of social practice that bridge challenges in the developing world with solutions from the community.

RedLine pushes the boundaries of art to create new ways of living in and viewing the world. For example, RedLine resident artist Viviane Le Courtois is building a shelter made from repurposed junk mail that will be on display during the exhibition. Her Junk Mail Shelter embodies all that we have at our disposal to create or destroy the world. iDE is a nonprofit social enterprise unleashing the power of innovation and market forces for poor farm families in the developing world, helping them access the tools and knowledge

» iDE staff throughout the

world has helped more than 19 million people lift themselves out of poverty. «

they need to increase their income. For over 28 years, iDE has developed its market-based approach by designing affordable tools, improving market access, increasing agricultural production, and creating sustainable local businesses. To date, iDE staff throughout the world has helped more than 19 million people lift themselves out of poverty.

With projects that include creating local manufacturing for simple foot-powered pumps in Zambia, promoting affordable drip irrigation systems in Honduras, and marketing a simple ceramic filter that dramatically reduces illness in Cambodia, iDE works on the principle that lasting change is not created through traditional aid giveaways, but instead by listening and encouraging participation in order to develop new market-based economies.

Green Spaces is a hub for social entrepreneurs with locations in Denver and New York City. Green Spaces provides work space for entrepreneurs to launch their businesses together and hosts events to raise awareness about social issues.

Concurrent with the Design for the Other 90% exhibit, on August 27, Green Spaces will present the Green Route Festival. Located in the RiNo/Ballpark district, the festival will feature an outdoor street fair with local food, a farmer’s market, live music, artwork, and a sustainability park.

An example of a local company utilizing innovation design is Circle Fresh Farms. “Growing produce in the community, for the community,” Circle Fresh uses drip irrigation technology to grow four times the produce on 1/10 the water consumption of conventional farming. Circle Fresh grows produce in the Growhaus in the Elyria-

» iDE works on the principle that lasting

change is not created through traditional aid giveaways, but instead by listening and encouraging participation in order to develop new market-based economies. « Swansea neighborhood — a so-called “food desert” and one of the poorest areas of Denver. As such, Circle Fresh is creating new jobs in Colorado while empowering local farmers.

While iDE’s projects are based in developing countries, its guiding principles of customer-centered design and market creation can be used to address domestic challenges. The urban farming company, Produce Denver, is now using iDE drip systems in various restaurant rooftop gardens, greenhouses, and front yards given over to vegetable crops. As part of the exhibit, Produce Denver will maintain a fully functional demonstration garden using iDE drip irrigation systems.

The Green Route will feature Denver businesses that are dedicated to sustainability in their products and practices. Through an online database, community members are connected to these businesses, and with The Green Route Pass, they are rewarded with discounts and incentives. The Pass is completely free. For more information on Green Spaces or the Green Route Festival visit: http:// www.greenroute.com/festival.aspx.

The DO Tank The DO Tank, a three-day forum in September, 2011, will bring together leaders from across the region to create a solutionsbased plan on seven critical topic areas including: Economic Development, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Education, Energy, Trade, and Security. The event follows the inaugural Biennial of the Americas 2010 and will occur during the Biennial’s off years.

The purpose of The DO Tank is to provide a neutral venue where motivated and collaborative leaders can meet to not only exchange ideas, but work on action plans and assignments that will literally make the world a better place.

The format of the event will include an opening reception for all participants, followed by seven concurrent two-day roundtables on each focus area. At the end of the two days, all participants will reconvene to share their collaborative solutions. Each roundtable will include approximately 30 key leaders from business, government, nonprofits, and academia who will focus alignment of vision, strategy and resources in a collaborative manner to make long-term sustainable differences.

The belief of the DO Tank organizers is that many solutions to the world’s critical

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COMMUNITY

Design for the Other 90%

issues already exist, so this effort will provide a forum where economies of scale can be discussed, providing the missing link of actually implementing solution strategies in a more universal way. The end result of The DO Tank will take the best solutions to key issues and standardize, replicate, and scale them so that they apply uniformly to multiple sectors and geographies.

new arrangement of ideas and conditions where anything is possible — even the end of poverty.”

“Design for the Other 90% will be a powerful demonstration that simple machines and simple ideas can translate into powerful global impact,” said Al Doerksen CEO of iDE. “iDE is proud to be based in Colorado

EHXIBITION VERTICALS SHELTER: A basic human need, shelter protects us from the physical elements while simultaneously engendering a sense of community.

HEALTH: Disease and disabilities are preventing billions of people from leading productive lives.

WATER: Water is another essential human need, and supplying it in sufficient quality as well as quantity for drinking, domestic use, and farming is necessary to human survival.

EDUCATION: Often the unheralded linchpin of societal growth, education empowers people and provides opportunities for social and economic development.

» The DO Tank will provide a neutral venue where

motivated and collaborative leaders can meet to not only exchange ideas, but work on action plans and assignments that will literally make the world a better place. « “The Do Tank is proud to partner with RedLine, iDE, Green Spaces, as well as its other partners this summer,” says Gayle Dendinger. “This is a great opportunity for the community to come together to address pressing social needs from a business point of view.”

Community Engagement Design for the Other 90% will demonstrate how smart, thoughtful design can change lives, both here and abroad. This global-tolocal focus is why RedLine, Denver’s own urban laboratory, iDE, the Denver-based international social enterprise, and the DO Tank chose to collaborate on this exhibition.

“Art changes the way we see the world, how we interact with the world and each other.” says Laura Merage founder of RedLine.

“Every day the distinctions between the fine arts and the applied arts are increasingly blurred. Design for the Other 90% creates a ( 72 )

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because we have come to recognize that this state is full of people who have the energy, the passion, the commitment, and the insight required for this exciting mission.”

This exhibition will challenge visitors to view the innovative design solutions showcased in Design for the Other 90% through an artistic lens.

Special events, lectures, performances, youth-guided gallery tours, art-making activities, demonstrations and community collaborations will underscore the interconnectedness between people, places and cultures of the world and will explore the creative potential and resilience of the human spirit. For more information, visit the exhibit’s website at www.design90denver.com.

Rebecca Saltman is a social entrepreneur and the President and Founder of an independent collaboration-building firm designed to bridge business, governments, nonprofits and academia.

Contact Rebecca at rsaltman@foot-in-door.com.

ENERGY: Power and its dependable distribution are needed for cooking, heating, lighting, communication, safety, and income generation.

TRANSPORTATION: Reliable modes of and access to transportation moves people and goods to clinics, schools, markets, and ultimately, financial opportunities.

Wouldn’t you like to tap into this network?

You can...

by joining the membership of the World Trade Center Denver

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CONNECT

INFORM

303 592 5760

ADVOCATE

www.wtcdenver.org

COMMUNITY

Business Launch Boot Camp

Even the most successful job-creation strategies across the country often do not provide extensive opportunities for these low-wage workers to grow personally and professionally, to earn more, and build assets and wealth, and move off of public assistance over the long term. Instead, the problem is addressed with short term, ‘band-aid’ solutions that require these individuals to take on yet another lowpaying job, further sacrificing their quality of life, and spending more time away from the family; all without the promise of advancement or the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s face it, even the best minimum-wage earning lunch lady in the United States—the best of the best—is not going to be promoted to even a teacher’s salary based on her outstanding performance. So where is the opportunity for upward mobility? How can someone earn a living that more fully provides for the family and allows them to live outside the realm of low-wage employment?

To answer these questions, many people have turned to business ownership as a third option. They are “growing a job” and creating another source of income for themselves and their families.

Called microenterprises, these very small businesses are generally operated by five or fewer employees (but most often just the proprietor), and require less than $35,000 in startup capital.

“Microenterprise can be a great path for someone with limited economic opportunity,” says Rob Smith, executive director of the Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute (RMMFI). “It’s all about using a skill and a willingness to work hard to create a new and grow-able income stream that wasn’t there before.”

Business Launch

Boot Camp

A Curriculum to Grow Your Own Job By Brendan Landry

H

ere is a staggering fact — as of the print date of this article a minimum wage job was paying roughly $7.36 per hour in the State of Colorado, meaning that a minimum wage worker was only grossing a weekly wage of about $240. That doesn’t seem all too bad until you put it in the context of self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency — what does that mean?

Simply put, self-sufficiency is defined by the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute as an individual’s ability to meet basic needs — food, shelter, and clothing — without public or private support. And when you consider the fact that the required annual wage for a family of three living in Denver, Colorado to be considered self-sufficient is over $45,000, you start to see just how paltry that $240 a week actually is.

In fact, that’s a weekly cash gap of over $500 for anyone keeping tabs.

So what does job growth mean to the one in five families in Colorado currently living within this constant cash gap? Short answer: Maybe another $240 a week—which still leaves a cash gap of about $260. ( 74 )

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RMMFI is a Denver, Colorado based nonprofit organization that specializes in providing learning, lending, and coaching to help lowincome entrepreneurs launch businesses. The group has recently unveiled its Business Launch Boot Camp to help low-income entrepreneurs create self-sufficiency through business ownership.

The focus of the program is not just business planning, but actual launch; and Smith is careful to reiterate what it means for these businesses to be launched in the community. “At the end of the day, launch means that our clients have a new way to generate income.

Is the business covering all the household bills right out of the gate?

No. But it’s a start.” Smith refers to what RMMFI calls the parallel path to income generation, a philosophy that is encouraged among their clients, and involves combining income from a job, from public assistance, and other sources while the business continues to grow.

RMMFI believes that with the experience the clients are provided through the Business Launch Boot Camp, they will have the ability, in the long term, to move away from less sustainable income streams, like public assistance programs, and essentially grow their own job through the business.

The Business Launch Boot Camp is a 12-week intensive program that provides a mix of learning, lending, mentorship, and coaching with the aim of having the business launched at the end of the program. “We are all about the launch,” says Smith. “There is a clear need for increased income in the population that we serve and our goal is to get these businesses to sustainable revenuegeneration as quickly as possible.”

RMMFI is currently in the midst of the pilot run of the Business Launch Boot Camp and is working with eight entrepreneurs toward the launch of business concepts that range from a residential cleaning service to a gardener, and from photography to an eco-friendly terrarium

builder. The group will undergo eight intensive weeks of learning and business planning before transitioning into the four-week launch phase, and throughout the process, each boot camper is provided with regular access to a one-on-one mentor, a business coach, and a roster of volunteer business experts to help with specific areas of the business plan. The overall goal is to surround clients with as much “real world” exposure as possible, and have that outside expert support be a supplement to the learning they receive through core programs.

In addition to the learning opportunities and expert guidance, each boot camper is preapproved for some level of microloan as part of being invited to take part in the program. “The preapproval essentially starts out as a $0 loan,” says Smith, “but through the process, if they do the work and demonstrate the learning and the capital needs of the business, the clients can be eligible for a loan of up to $2,500.”

household income, and has decided that business ownership is a viable option for her. Furthermore, she possesses a marketable skill — something that she is good at — and she has committed to the Boot Camp process to help her build a business around that skill.

RMMFI’s first group of boot campers will graduate on July 30th and each client has set their sights on an end goal, and most of these goals link back to that concept of job growth. The work they will have done planning for the business will lead to clearly defined revenue paths and a solid foundation on which to grow the business. “Initially, it’s another line in the water,” says Smith, referring to business’s immediate focus on generating revenue, “and because of the experience they’ve had, because of the work they’ve done, the clients have a good understanding of how to

» Let’s face it, even the best minimum-wage earning lunch lady in the United

States—the best of the best—is not going to be promoted to even a teacher’s salary based on her outstanding performance. «

RMMFI’s overall philosophy is that poor planning equals poor results, so each program component is designed to help the client put together a viable plan that takes into account both the skill sets of the individual and the feasibility of the business concept. The process results in a business owner who can clearly and concisely tell the story of what their business does and demonstrate numbers that back it up. But what really sets RMMFI’s program apart from more traditional business planning agencies is the focus on the business launch and moving the boot campers beyond the planning phase and into implementation. “This is where we think the coaching and mentorship aspects are so crucial,” says Smith. “It can be a daunting task to move from an idea to actually having a business out on the street, and we designed the Boot Camp process to help push the entrepreneurs through that fear factor.”

Just three weeks into the Business Launch Boot Camp, Pam Tanino, the mind behind PVA4U.com, a virtual personal assistant service, has a good idea of where she wants to be on graduation day. “I hope to have a solid foundation for my business in the form of a thorough business plan,” she says, “…and client contracts with commitments that represent a 300% increase in monthly revenue.” Tanino is a prime example of the type of entrepreneur that RMMFI targets. She has a need for increased

maintain it and grow their revenues to a point where it provides the income they need to take care of their families.”

Microenterprise, in and of itself, is a long term solution for the ongoing issue of growing viable jobs for people at all levels of our economy that has been tried and tested for years and years to varying degrees of success. But it is these creative takes on that model, like RMMFI’s Business Launch Boot Camp, that have the potential to cause a new ripple effect in the job market — to hand over some ownership to the people in need of more personal income.

It is about moving beyond the short term “band-aid” solutions; it is about increasing household income, and decreasing reliance on public assistance, and ultimately growing more jobs; but first and foremost, it is about launching the business.

Brendan is co-founder and Director of Programs for the Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute (RMMFI), a Denver-based nonprofit that offers learning, lending, and coaching to grow community entrepreneurs who build businesses to advance along the pathway to self-sufficiency and self-worth. To learn more about RMMFI, please visit www.rmmfi.org.

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Conscious Capitalism

Conference Unleashing the Power of Passion and Purpose By Birdie Reznicek

When you are trailblazing your own path, it is scary, and inspiration can be incredibly valuable.

– Blake Jones, President & CEO of Namaste Solar

T

here is a rare but growing breed of business students who look past the well-trod roads to accounting firms and investment banks, seeking instead a path that creatively merges their business skills with service to the world beyond themselves.

It’s not easy to be a business student on a non-traditional career path; you still bear the burden of student loans, but without the easy roadmaps of on-campus recruiting or corporate ladders.

In early March 2011, the Second Annual Conscious Capitalism Conference brought together these talented business students with innovative entrepreneurs and executives who shared from their own experiences on the “road less traveled.” This year's

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conference, developed and hosted by the Center for Education on Social Responsibility (CESR) at the Leeds School of Business, was a collaboration between the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, and ICOSA. According to Dr. Donna Sockell, Director of CESR, the goal of the conference was to inspire and challenge business students from across the region to think about applying their business skills and choosing their careers precisely because they directly advance the social good. “The speakers we bring in have built amazing businesses that demonstrate they care about things that are much greater than themselves.”

This year's conference, aptly titled Unleashing the Power of Passion and Purpose, opened with Don Shaffer, the President and CEO of RSF Social Finance - a unique hybrid of a bank and a foundation that focuses on social impact investing. Don challenged students to bring their personal values into the world of finance. “Students here are obviously very switched on to entrepreneurship and social business, and really are striving to figure out how they can bring value into business. It’s been a real treat

for me to see the kind of light bulbs going on for students.”

Heidi Ganahl reinforced the importance of building a business around one’s passion as she shared her personal journey to becoming the Founder and President of Camp Bow Wow. Ganahl emphasized the great economic, social and personal rewards that can be enjoyed by following a dream of providing a better life for others. Blake Jones, the President and CEO of Namaste Solar observed the power of inspiration.

“A conference such as this broadens the horizons of what is possible. I wish I had been exposed to some of the ideas presented at this conference when I was a student.

When you are trailblazing your own path, it is scary, and inspiration can be incredibly valuable. A conference such as this can provide that very important inspiration to have the courage to do what you want to do.” Students saw that it takes courage not just to be a social entrepreneur, but to be an “intrapreneur” as well. Luella ChavezD’Angelo, president of the Western Union Foundation, engaged students in a lively discussion about creating social change from within an organization.

The Conscious Capitalism Conference was a prime opportunity for students and faculty gathered from over five universities to engage each other in a real-world problem solving exercise. Scott Hitt, COO of The Paradigm Project, presented key questions his organization wrestles with in the process of developing markets and delivery systems for carbon-offset-producing products in developing countries. Student groups put their heads together and presented their own thoughts and possible solutions. As Luella Chavez D’Angelo noted, “This is an exciting thing to see in a diverse population – a contagious shared value of social responsibility.”

The Center for Education on Social Responsibility will host the third annual Conscious Capitalism Conference on the CU Boulder campus on March 7, 2012.

Birdie Reznicek is the managing director of CESR. CESR’s mission is to develop socially conscious, valuesdriven business leaders of tomorrow at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder.

For more information about CESR, go to http://leeds.colorado.edu/cesr.

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Mommy Has Lots To Do

Brian Vogt Community Leader of the Year

M

ommy Has Lots To Do is a whimsical children’s book written for toddlers and preschool children, but long before it was penned and illustrated into a childhood favorite, “Mommy has lots to do” was an overused phrase in one suburban Denver household.

Best-selling author and host of a local Denver business-talk radio show, Angel Tuccy wrote the first draft of Mommy Has Lots To Do while her youngest of three children was an infant and she felt that her days were filled with non-stop chores and endless demands from her beautiful, yet busy family.

After being filed away for 13 years, the book was still in need of an illustrator.

Tuccy’s daughter, Alycia Tuccy, now 17 years old, raised her hand for the job. “I was the most logical illustrator for this project,” said Alycia, “because I can remember exactly what our household was like when my mom wrote the first draft. I was the only one who could accurately recall what the emotion was around our house — and I love to draw.”

Alycia's drawings are the key to the overall spirit of the book. She has completely captured what it was like for her when she was four years old, even depicting her Daddy with a full head of hair and the large glasses that were popular for the time.

The book offers children a loving glimpse into why Mommy stays so busy. Every day, all day long, Mommy has lots to do. No matter how well she organizes, or how far in advance she plans, there is always more for Mommy to do.

Far beyond being an entrepreneur, Tuccy discovered that being a mom was the most rewarding and the most demanding job in the world.

“It takes more than a village to raise a child,” said Tuccy. “And most days, our village is run by one very busy and very tired person: Mommy. Even with all the help of other family members and the collaboration of childcare providers, grandparents, neighbors and other siblings, there is no shortage of all that Mommy has to do.”

Mommy Has Lots To Do was the first book that Tuccy has written, fulfilling a passion that she would someday become an

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Gayle Dendinger

I

» Tuccy discovered that being a mom was the most rewarding and the most demanding job in the world. « author. But, she put that dream on the back burner while she pursued an entrepreneurial career and raised her family. Today, she has authored six books, three of which have become bestsellers.

Even though she works full-time writing, speaking, consulting and hosting the popular Experience Pros Radio Show on AM 560 KLZ, Angel still considers herself to be a full-time mom. As often as possible, she makes it a point to be home before all three of her teenaged children return from school and she attends all of their band concerts and extra-curricular activities.

When her peers and clients inevitably remark with wonder at how she accomplishes so much given the same 24 hours that they have, Angel’s reply is always the same…“Mommy has lots to do.”

Mommy Has Lots To Do may be purchased through Amazon.com.

COSA extends profound congratulations to Gayle Dendinger, our Publisher, for winning the Brian Vogt Community Leader of the Year Award from the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce.

This distinguished award is given to an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the Chamber and the larger South Metro Denver community.

Those who are eligible include owners or employees of a business, nonprofit, or government agency.

Previous winner of the Brian Vogt award, Karen Samuels Jones, introduced Gayle by saying, "Although he has been successful by any financial measure, he understands that business success is a by-product of loftier aims, and as such, his personal motto is, ‘It is good business to be a good neighbor.’ Nothing reflects this sentiment better than his neighborly efforts at home and abroad." Those efforts have included book distributions in South Africa, coat donations in Albania, Romania and the Czech Republic, and the donation of humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan.

Samuels Jones went on, "He is without a doubt one of the most gifted, eclectic and at times esoteric minds ever to serve on the Chamber's Board."

Dendinger accepted the award, humbled by the accolades. "These guys were talking about what I did… but I don't even recognize that person. All we do is just screw around and have fun. That's all we're doing. Why do we do it? We just do it for the hell of it — it's fun!" said Dendinger.

Once again, congratulations Gayle.

We're so very grateful for your idea of fun!

{ { { CONSULTATIONS WITH BUSINESS EXPERTS

Would Like To Thank The Following Friends For Their Inspiration

Lisa Adams Walter Cate Anderson Arapahoe/Douglas Works!

Mike Agrelius Brian Bartony Dr. Paul Bauer Paul Bergman John Brackney Aaron Brickman Jeanne Brown Ben Bryan Larry Burton

Martha Butwin Lorna Christoff Lorri Crowley PJ D’Amico Kim DeCoste Paul DeCoste Laura Dowling EDCUtah Jeff Edwards Dawn Engle Dr. Shadi Farhangrazi Brian Forest Karen Gerwitz Elizabeth Goryunova Kim Griffiths Triche Guenin Ryan Hanschen Rebecca Kersting Steve Kessler Holli Keyser Brendan Landry Gary Lee Kim Lofgreen Tom Mauro Terry McElhaney

Marcia McGilley Dr. Arlen Meyers Tameka Montgomery Beth Parish Tazeem Pasha Rhonda Paxson Abbey Powell Ed Powers Eric Reamer Sara Reimnitz Birdie Reznicek Daisy Rocha Tim Sanders Rebecca Saltman Rob Smith Dr. Donna Sockell Chris Stevenson Andre Takacs Tim Truman Angel Tuccy World Trade Center Denver World Trade Center Utah Luke Wyckoff Sheila Yorkin YouthBiz

Innovation, growth and job creation A pril - June 2011

4120 Jackson Street Denver Colorado 80216 I www.icosamag.com

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